Legal Reform Drives Growth in German Residential PV

Residential solar units have been given a dramatic boost by an increase to exemptions from levies under Germany’s Renewable Energy Act. That’s according to an analysis by market research company EUPD.

As of this year, home photovoltaic units of up to 30 kilowatt hours are exempt – compared to 10 kW previously. That spurred growth of 142 percent in units between 10 and 30 kW in the first quarter of 2021, found EUPD. Installed PV units of up to 10 kW also rose by 39 percent.

EUPD sees this as a growing trend, predicting 1.5 gigawatts in new capacity for this year. That would shatter the previous record of 1.1 GW set in 2020.

This increase in rooftop PV systems up to 30 kW is being accompanied by growth in home storage systems. 106,000 home storage systems were added last year, and analysts assume that 150,000 new battery storage systems will be installed in 2021.