PV estimated to cover 4.5% of German electricity production in 2013

Power generated by photovoltaics systems covered 4.5% of Germany’s total electricity production last year, according to estimates released by the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW).

The figure represents a modest increase of 0.3% from 2012, when PV covered around 4.2% of gross electricity production.

The total output of renewable energy generation including wind and other sources was 23.4% of total power generation, again marking an increase from 2012 when it represented 22.8% of total output. Renewable energy also accounted for 25% of demand in Germany last year.

BDEW estimates that the output of electricity produced by PV increased in 2013 by 7.3%, while wind power in contrast decreased by 3.5%.

In a statement released to accompany the estimates, BDEW chairwoman Hildegard Müller said energy reforms were among the core tasks facing the country’s coalition government, which was sworn into office in December.

According to Müller’s statement, energy policies required “fundamental reform”. Müller stated that the coalition agreement did not go far enough in supporting renewable energy and that bolder action was required.

When contacted for comment regarding the estimated figures, Christian Hallerberg of the German PV trade association BSW Solar told PV Tech that PV produced around 29.7 billon kilowatt hours in 2013 and said, "BSW-Solar appeals to keep speed. The further expansion of solar energy is affordable. Now is the time to take advantage of the considerable potential of solar energy for the energy transition."

The establishment of a coalition government between Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and the centre-left SPD was greeted with cautious optimism by some in the German PV industry but even this optimism appeared to be tempered with dissatisfaction at the scale of ‘bandwidth’ targets for renewable energy in the generation mix.