To achieve Germany’s Paris climate goals, the federal government significantly increased the expansion targets with the amendment to the Renewable Energy Act in May 2022. In addition to a drastic expansion of wind energy, the solar capacity is now also set to grow significantly. It is therefore planned that from 2025 onwards, 22 gigawatts of photovoltaic systems will be added nationwide, meaning that a total of around 215 gigawatts of capacity is expected to be installed in Germany by 2030. By comparison, the increase in PV installations in 2022 – one of the record years – was still just under 7.5 gigawatts. The current total output of all photovoltaic installations in Germany now stands at around 65 gigawatts. Today, approximately 70 % % of all solar electricity comes from rooftop or facade installations, and almost 30% % from solar parks.
Solar output of ground-mounted photovoltaics to be expanded
Experts see potential for expansion above all in the Ground-mounted photovoltaic systemswhich is why the legal framework and control options of the federal states have now been expanded. Previously, solar parks were permitted on conversion areas under the EEG and, since 2017, also on so-called disadvantaged areas. This mainly concerned areas in commercial and industrial zones as well as the extensive verges of freeways and railroad lines, as well as operational storage and expansion areas or compensation areas of companies and municipalities. These include disused landfills, gravel pits, quarries, sports facilities and former military areas. Since 2023, former moorland areas, agrivoltaic systems (elevated PV systems that allow planting, cultivation and passage of tractors) and floating PV systems on lakes have also been added. Even NABU and BUND welcome this decision and the new opening clause is already being used by the states of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt.
Accelerated approval procedures for solar parks are on the cards
The growth in ground-mounted photovoltaics amounted to around 2.2 gigawatts of capacity in 2022. Of this, the particularly efficient solar parks with a nominal output of more than 1 MWP have to manage without EEG remuneration anyway, but this has hardly slowed down the willingness to invest: the remuneration rates determined by the tendering process were and still are extremely lucrative. However, in order to achieve an annual tripling in the expansion of solar energy, the approval procedures must also be accelerated. These are subject to municipal land-use planning and the responsible municipality must draw up a development plan and amend the land-use plan. All of this is currently still very time-consuming. Now, however, a large solar park project can be classified as "spatially significant" and then the task of designating reserved and priority areas will be taken over by state or regional planning.
Regional differences in solar output in Germany
The differentiated figures from 2022 for the expansion of photovoltaic systems in the individual federal states are not yet available. However, in 2021, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania recorded the highest expansion in absolute output figures. The city states bring up the rear. However, if you look at solar power output per square kilometer, Lower Saxony, Thuringia, Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate urgently need to catch up. Saarland, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia are in the lead here.