Germany added 7.5 gigawatts (GW) of new solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity in the first half of 2024, with two-thirds of this growth attributed to installations on buildings, according to data from the Bundesnetzagentur, Germany's Federal Network Agency.
The latest figures, released last week, indicate that the country's total installed PV capacity has surpassed 90 GW. This milestone follows a steady addition of over 1 GW of new capacity each month since March 2023.
Klaus Müller, president of the Bundesnetzagentur, noted, “We are seeing continuous growth, especially in solar installations. Nearly 10% more solar power has been added to the total capacity since the end of 2023. Two-thirds of this growth came in the form of building installations, which include balcony solar panels. At the end of June, we exceeded 90 gigawatts of installed capacity for the first time. An enormous development and challenge for the entire transformation process in the electricity sector.”
The Bundesnetzagentur also reported that approximately 200 MW of the new capacity was contributed by balcony PV systems, installed across around 220,000 units. The growth in balcony installations follows a regulatory streamlining by the government in April, which has prompted increased interest from module and battery companies. Chinese firm Anker, for instance, has introduced a product specifically designed for balcony installations.
The agency highlighted that advances in solar module technology, including a shift towards more powerful modules, have benefitted the balcony segment. The average gross capacity of these units has increased from about 800 watts last year to 900 watts this year. According to the International Technology Roadmap for Photovoltaics (ITRPV), most solar module and cell production will transition to n-type structures by the end of this year, with these structures expected to dominate the market by 2025.
Small-scale installations, such as balcony systems, benefit significantly from these advancements, with interdigitated back contact (IBC) and heterojunction technology (HJT) modules being favored for their high efficiency and compact design.
