Overview

• The number of plug-in solar systems in Germany has roughly doubled over the past year to about one million installations, according to the Bundesnetzagentur and Bundesverband Solarwirtschaft.
• Regulatory easing on landlord and homeowner approvals and higher retail electricity prices since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have driven much of the recent uptake.
• Registered units now total around 0.9 gigawatts of capacity, with North Rhine-Westphalia, Bavaria and Lower Saxony leading adoption while city-states record the lowest densities.
• Analysts at Verivox estimate that typical systems pay back their initial investment within 2.5 to 5 years, depending on orientation, installation quality and local tariffs.
• Manufacturers including Anker, Maxxisun and Solakon have unveiled new battery storage solutions designed to store surplus solar output and boost self-consumption.