Germany Hits January PV High Of 220 MW

• Germany's Federal Network Agency says the country registered over 220 MW of new PV capacity during January 2018
• Includes 33.6 MW of ground-mounted systems
• Over 289 kW of PV systems were registered under Germany's PV tenant electricity scheme
• Cumulative German PV capacity hits 43.2 GW at end of January

New German PV capacity hit 220 MW in January, well above the 81 MW new capacity registered in January 2016 and 117.3 MW during January 2017 (see Germany Adds 117 MW PV In January).

The 220 MW figure, reported by the Germany's electricity regulator, the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) on Feb. 28, includes 33.6 MW of ground-mounted PV capacity. Under its PV tenant electricity scheme for apartment buildings, 289.6 kW of PV systems were registered during the month.

The 220 MW is also higher on a month-on-month basis – in December, 157.8 MW were registered with the Bundesnetzagentur, which resulted in 1.75 GW new PV capacity in 2017, 14% above the 1.5 GW in 2016 but still far short of its 2017 target of 2.5 GW last year (see Germany's 1.75 GW Of PV In 2017 Misses Target). 

In comparison to 2017, January 2018 was even better than any month in that year, when the peak was reached in May with addition of 212.4 MW. However, in 2016, a year-end run took place to install ground-mount feed-in tariff systems up to 10 MW, resulting in additions of nearly 450 MW in December 2016 alone.

With the January 2018 additions, cumulative installed PV capacity of the country reached 43.2 GW at the end of the month, including 10.6 GW of plants commissioned before 2010.