BSW: Solar met 12% of Germany’s total energy demand in 2023

January 24, 2024
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
Goldbeck Solar’s plant in Sunera, Germany. Credit: Goldbeck Solar

Germany commissioned more than one million new solar power projects in 2023, with a combined electricity generation capacity of 14.1GW to meet 12% of Germany’s total energy demand, according to German solar association Bundesverband Solarwirtschaft (BSW).

The BSW announced the installation figures earlier this month, and has since gone on to note that these totals are a record for the German solar sector, and exceed the government’s target of 9GW of new solar installations in 2023.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Try Premium for just $1

  • Full premium access for the first month at only $1
  • Converts to an annual rate after 30 days unless cancelled
  • Cancel anytime during the trial period

Premium Benefits

  • Expert industry analysis and interviews
  • Digital access to PV Tech Power journal
  • Exclusive event discounts

Or get the full Premium subscription right away

Or continue reading this article for free

The BSW also noted that this was an 85% increase on the 7.5GW of new capacity installed in 2022, and marks the tenth consecutive year of greater capacity additions in the global solar sector, dating back to 2014.

This decade of sustained growth has pushed Germany’s total installed solar capacity to 79.2GW as of the end of 2023, according to Fraunhofer ISE. The BSW estimates that this figure is, in fact, 81.5GW, but both figures demonstrate that solar now has the largest generation capacity of any single power source, ahead of wind, with a combined capacity of 68.8GW; coal, with a combined capacity of 37.5GW; and natural gas, with an installed capacity of 34.8GW.

“Although it is perhaps too early to make reliable predictions for 2024, numerous indications suggest that the amount of PV capacity that will be connected to the grid during this year will be more rather than less than what was installed in 2023,” wrote the BSW in its announcement of the news. “We can therefore expect the interim target of 13GW set out by the German government for 2024 to be exceeded.”

Keeping pace with Europe

Last week, Philip Wolfe of Wiki-Solar wrote for PV Tech that, by the end of 2023, Germany had installed the fifth-most utility-scale solar capacity in the world, and the BSW estimates that, by the end of the year, solar PV met 12% of Germany’s total energy demand. This figure compares favourably to the contribution of solar to the energy mixes of other European countries, with solar meeting 14% of Spain’s energy demand in 2023, and 4.2% of France’s energy demand in 2022.

The news is also a positive development for the German solar sector more broadly, which met 68% of the country’s energy demand in July last year as sunlight hours peaked. The German solar sector saw its annual capacity installations collapse from 8.1GW in 2012 to just 2.6GW in 2013 with the withdrawal of government subsidies, and suggests that the solar sector has managed to achieve sustained growth without such support.

However, the BSW also claims that the German government has contributed to “fuelling public speculation and contributing to investment uncertainty” in the country’s solar sector, after last December’s announcement of government cuts to the solar sector to account for a shortfall in the national budget of €60 billion ($64 billion).

While the government has not yet specified the extent of the cuts to the solar sector in particular, these concerns will do little to alleviate a perceived lack of financial viability in the European solar sector in general, and the manufacturing industry in particular.

Our publisher Solar Media is hosting the 11th Solar Finance & Investment Europe conference, 31 January – 1 February at Park Plaza in London. Discussion topics will include renewable capital allocation, scaling European solar and maximising returns for solar-plus-storage projects. See the official site for more details.

Read Next

October 22, 2025
Ingeteam’s Mauro Rivola discusses the rapidly growing appetite for co-located solar and storage in Southern Europe.
Premium
October 21, 2025
PV Tech Premium spoke with academic and industry experts about the rising tide of cybersecurity concerns in Europe's solar energy sector.
October 14, 2025
German IPP wpd has started construction at its 140.6MW Marcy solar park in the Nièvre department of central France.
October 14, 2025
Apple will support 650MW of projects as part of a major expansion of its renewable energy investments in Europe, aimed at reducing its carbon footprint.
October 13, 2025
The world is on pace to exceed 3TW of cumulative solar installations by the end of the year, according to a report from DNV.
October 10, 2025
The European solar module market has reached a “state of equilibrium” in recent weeks, with stable prices and regular demand.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
November 25, 2025
Warsaw, Poland
Solar Media Events
December 2, 2025
Málaga, Spain
Solar Media Events
February 3, 2026
London, UK
Solar Media Events
March 10, 2026
Frankfurt, Germany