New solar power installations in Germany during the month of March 2020 totaled 367.82 MW, taking overall additions during the first quarter of this year to 1,097 MW, as per the latest statistics shared by the country's Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur).
The Q1/2020 installations aren't as good as 1,269 MW Germany reported a year back, but the number is definitely much better than the paltry 240 MW added in Q1/2017 or 579 MW installed in Q1/2018.
The March 2020 additions are even higher than 349.5 MW reported for March 2019 and also 356.59 MW added in February 2020 – and this despite social distancing measures to protect from COVID-19 being issued on March 22.
These numbers now take the Germany's cumulative solar power capacity to 50.27 GW, which means Germany is expected to reach its 52 GW cap in the next 6 months when the government would stop offering incentives to developers under the current policy. While the government already agreed to lift the cap several months ago, this has not been enacted due to different opinions on wind power legislation for which solar has been held 'hostage'.
While the April numbers were probably down due to COVID-19, the effects for the coming months remain to be seen; if politics doesn't move, there might be even a decent solar rally despite the gloomy economic outlook.
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