Germany Posts Record Solar Installations

(Reuters) – Germany will add a record of up to 3 gigawatt (GW) of photovoltaic capacity this year due to unexpectedly strong demand in the final months of 2009, the head of Germany’s BSW solar industry association said on Monday.

Carsten Koernig told Reuters the late surge would take the forecast past last month’s increase to 2.5 GW from 2 GW.

“It looks like we’ll end up with 2.5 to 3 GW for 2009,” he added. “It’s still too early to say if it will be closer to 3 or 2.5. It’ll be well over 2.5. But it won’t be over 3 GW simply because there isn’t enough capacity. We’re already at the limit.

Germany, the world’s leader in photovoltaic which turns sunlight into electricity, had 5.3 GW installed at the end of 2008, including a previous record 1.6 GW added in 2008.

That was about a third of the world’s total of 15 GW. Three GW’s of solar power would produce as much power as three large coal-burning plants or three nuclear power plants.

Ontario, Canada, introduced a similar Feed-in Tariff effective October 1st, 2009. Their FiT pays small solar PV installations, up to 10kW in size, at a rate of 80.2 cents per kilowatt-hour. Demand is expected to pick up over the next few months as the general public becomes aware of the program.

California also has a Feed-in Tariff which was amended On Oct 11, 2009. The changes, which don’t take effect till 2010, allow for an increase in the rate paid for solar PV production during peak hours. We don’t believe the FiT rate is high enough to produce massive installation numbers.

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