German solar energy capacity expands slightly after downward trend
Clean Energy Wire / pv magazine
Germany's solar energy capacity expanded slightly in June, ending a downward trend during the first half of 2019, according to the German Federal Network Agency (BNetzA). Installations with a capacity of 235 megawatt (MW) were added in June, after falling gradually from about 551 MW in January. In total, a capacity of two gigawatts was installed in the first half of the year. The slow-down in expansion leading up to June “cannot be satisfactory”, head of solar industry association BSW Solar Carsten Körnig told pv magazine, as it missed what is required by climate policy by a large margin. At the same time, however, Germany's total solar capacity is about to exceed the official cap for guaranteed remuneration of 52 gigawatts (GW), as Körnig has previously warned. The country now has a total of about 48 GW installed solar capacity.
Germany is among the world’s top solar power producing countries. In June, solar became the country’s biggest source of power, covering 19 percent of demand. But critics say the country lacks a political strategy to ensure that solar power continues to expand smoothly.
