Last week, Germany reached the milestone of 100 GW of solar power generators installed.

Saturday, January 25, 2025: The Market Master Data Register (MaStR) officially announced recorded 100 gigawatts (GW) of installed photovoltaic power generators.

Bottom line, the German electricity generation is becoming steadily “greener” and more sustainable.

Balcony power plants

The share of balcony power plants in photovoltaic is still less than one percent, the officially reported output of all balcony power plants in Germany exceeded the 700 megawatt (MW) mark.

However, it is important to note that not all balcony power plants are registered yet.

Around 60 percent of energy is renewable

Photovoltaic systems have a significant share of electricity generation in Germany. In 2024, the Federal Network Agency announced a total electricity generation of 431.7 terawatt hours (TWh), and 254.9 TWh or 59 percent came from renewable energy sources.

In addition to photovoltaic, this also includes wind power, biogas and hydropower plants. Among the renewables, wind power is the star, contributing a total of 137.6 TWh in 2024, while solar power generation came in second place with 63.3 TWh.

With the rise of renewables there come new challenges, at certain times, photovoltaic produce too much electricity, which poses a challenge for the power grid. Experts debate on planned changes to the Energy Industry Act. One of the aims of the changes is to reduce the feed-in by plant operators, for example by eliminating the feed-in tariff at times when electricity prices are negative.

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Last weekend there was some excitement about the plan, also known as the “Solar Peak Act”. It would, for example, provide for the control of feed-in power via “manufacturer clouds”. However, there is no mention of this in the drafts.