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Germany Installed 304 MW PV In April 2019

Between January 2019 and April 2019, well over 1.5 GW of new solar PV capacity was added in Germany, according to Bundesnetzagentur. While April additions are lower than the last three months, the country is on its way to reach 4 GW by year end.

Anu Bhambhani
  • Bundesnetzagentur of Germany says the country installed 304 MW of new solar PV capacity in April 2019
  • Of this, 244 MW was added under feed-in-tariff scheme, with another 28.98 MW coming from ground mount systems and rooftop solar adding another 911 kW
  • Cumulative installed capacity of the country at the end of April 2019 is expected to have crossed 47.5 GW

After starting the year 2019 with a big bang, German solar PV installations mellowed down a little in the following months, but still lead to 304.67 MW in April. In January 2019, the number was 550 MW, which back then was estimated to be over 578 MW as a provisional figure (see Germany Installed Over Half GW PV In January).

The March 2019 number was adjusted as well – but this time a little up – to 351.44 MW, as against the provisional estimate of over 349 MW provided earlier by Germany's Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur). Final numbers are provided after accounting for all registrations (see Germany Installed 349 MW Solar In March 2019).

Among April 2019 installations, 244 MW was added under the feed-in-tariff (FIT) scheme and 28.98 MW came from ground mounted solar systems.

Four months down in 2019 and Germany has already installed 1,586 MW of new solar power capacity, which is close to the 1.8 GW installed in the entire year of 2017. If the country continues to deploy over 300 MW a month it will soon reach its annual target of 2.5 GW and end up at around 4 GW, which was forecasted by SolarPower Europe (see SolarPower Europe: 800 GW New PV By 2023).

With the April 2019 numbers in, the cumulative installed solar power capacity of Germany crossed 47.5 GW by April 30, 2019. Under Germany's FIT scheme for solar PV installations, the targeted capacity of 52 GW is expected to be achieved by 2020 which is when the state support is planned to be completely taken away. German solar trade association BSW Solar has called for abolition to the FIT cap on achieving 52 GW capacity, arguing that the industry still needs to be nurtured through incentives for more time to come.