Solar registered significant growth in Germany in May with around 212.4 MW of newly installed PV systems. This capacity includes 76.4 MW of solar parks from the register for large-scale PV plants. Furthermore, there are 6,589 newly registered small-sized PV systems not exceeding 750 kW with a combined capacity of 136 MW.
This shows that raising the lower limit for PV projects eligible to compete in the auctions from 200 kW to 750 kW was viewed as an opportunity not to be missed by developers.
More than 50 new PV installations registered in May had a power range between 500 kW and 750 kW. On the other hand, over 180 new systems were shown to have a capacity of more than 100 kW.
Thirty ground-mounted solar parks were added in the register for large-scale projects in May. Around two-thirds of these projects were selected in the auctions for utility-scale solar held by the German government.
Furthermore, there are 16 projects which were selected in the auction held in April 2015, and four more projects coming from the auction held in December 2015. Combined, these ground-mounted solar parks have a combined capacity of 76.4 MW.
In the first five months of this year, the newly installed solar power was around 700 MW, while the country’s cumulative PV capacity reached 41.8 GW by end of May.
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It is remarkable that all projects of the first auction in April 2015 have been realised during the 2 years period to do so.
Is this uptick the start if the long-awaited revival of PV in Germany? It always struck me that the slump in small installations was greater than justified by the quite small cuts in the actual FITs, against the rhetoric of a major cutback. Solar has remained a good deal for any small consumer with significant daytime self-consumption, and storage expands the pool. It has become a complicated calculation, not a no-brainer. Has the industry painfully learned how to sell?