With 919 MW, Germany saw its monthly solar PV installations in September 2023 decline by over 21% even as its annual total during initial 9 months added up to over 10 GW. The country has now officially exceeded the annual PV installation target of 9 GW for 2023.
Adjusted, the installations for the month of August 2023 now stand at 1.17 GW, up from 1.056 GW the Federal Network Agency or Bundesnetzagentur previously pegged for the month (see Germany Reaches 2023 Annual Installation Target Already In August).
The September additions declined below the 1 GW scale, achieved every month over the last 6 months. In fact, the agency has revised its registered numbers for PV installations since the beginning of the year, taking the aggregate during 9M/2023 to 10.17 GW.
The capacity of rooftop solar systems supported under the Renewable Energy Sources (EEG) declined from 807.8 MW in August 2023 to 666 MW in the reporting month. In July 2023, the additions had dropped to 872.8 MW, from 936.8 MW in June.
As for large-scale solar capacity, 113.5 MW of EEG-backed projects were commissioned in September, down from 216 MW in August and 183.1 MW in July.
The largest chunk during 9M/2023 was installed in Bavaria with 2.5 GW installed capacity, followed by 1.6 GW in North Rhine-Westphalia and 1.36 GW in Baden-Württemberg.
Even though it is yet to reach the requisite monthly installations of 1.578 GW to achieve the 215 GW target for 2030, assuming the country continues to install 1 GW every month in Q4/2023, Germany could well exit 2023 with more than 13 GW annual installed capacity. It would be an annual growth of well over 80% over 7.2 GW installed in 2022 (see Germany Exited 2022 With 7.2 GW New Solar Installed).
At the end of September 2023, Germany's cumulative installed solar PV capacity was over 77.67 GW.