Third quarter solar installations in Germany amounted to 1.6 gigawatts (GW) according to Bundesnetzagentur. This brings the year to date installations in Germany to 3.35 GW. Installation numbers for June, July, August and September were just released by Bundesnetzagentur.
According to PV Magazine the new figures are an impressive increase on Q1 2011, which saw just 513 megawatts installed, or 11,937 systems. Year to date, Germany’s newly added photovoltaic capacity totals 3.35 GW, or 125,848 systems.
In the 2012 feed-in tariff (FIT) reference period between October 2010 and September 2011, the country installed around 5.2 GW of PV, which resulted in a 15 percent tariff cut, as it crossed the growth threshold of over 4.5 GW starting January 1, 2012.
“There has been an upward swing in demand in the last few months and signs are that October was a strong month also. With a 15 percent cut in FIT starting January 1, 2012, the market is expecting a ‘big rush’ to install before the tariff cuts; installations in Germany could reach six GW in 2011,” said Raj Prabhu, Managing Partner at Mercom Capital Group.
