• The Federal Network Agency of Germany says the country installed 349.5 MW of new solar power capacity in March 2019
  • 334 MW came under FIT mechanism, another 28 MW from ground mounted, and 868 kW was rooftop solar capacity
  • A total of 1.27 GW was installed in Q1/2018
  • Cumulatively, Germany’s installed PV capacity reached 47.2 GW at the end of March 2019

The German Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) has released official provisional number for solar power capacity additions for the month of March 2019, according to which 349.5 MW was installed. Provisional numbers means that the agency can might adjust the data depending on final registrations. For instance, it has now revised the numbers for January 2019 and February 2019 bringing these down to 540 MW and 380 MW, respectively.

Previously, for January 2019 the agency said more than 550 MW were installed, and in February 2019 the additions were said to have reached 418.6 MW (see Germany Installs Nearly 1 GW In Jan/Feb 2019).

However, even with the revised statistics, the first quarter addition is heartening as it shows an installed capacity of 1.27 GW.

Of the 349 MW installed in March 2019, 334 MW was added under the feed-in-tariff (FIT) mechanism, with another 28 MW contributed by ground mounted systems that was not part of the tendered capacity (systems from 750 to 10 MW). Another 868 kW came from rooftop solar systems.

At the end of February 2019, 46.898 GW of total solar PV capacity was reported. Now, it should have exceeded 47.24 GW.

From May 2019 onward FIT rates for solar PV systems have been revised. Up to 10 kW systems, the FIT will be €0.1095 ($0.12) per kWh; for systems between 10 kW to 40 kW, the FIT has been fixed at €0.1065 ($0.12) per kWh; and for systems of 100 kW, the FIT level has been lowered to €0.838 ($0.94) per kWh. Systems of above 100 kW capacity will be remunerated with a fixed tariff of €0.0759 ($0.085) per kWh.