German customers benefit from solar storage

June 24, 2013 | By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

Intense global competition and a potential crisis of over-supply among producers have forced the solar industry to improvise at many levels to keep it stable and develop new growth opportunities, according to Germany Trade & Invest, a foreign trade and inward investment promotion agency.

Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Sideka Solartechnik

Germany achieved grid parity in 2011 with levelized cost of energy of newly installed systems below retail electricity prices for private households, according to Germany Trade & Invest. International market opportunities for PV-storage solutions are growing rapidly, as PV grid parity has also been reached in some countries in recent years. By 2020, PV installations for private consumption could reach more than 350 GWp and constitute more than half of the globally-installed capacity, according to a McKinsey study.

In May, the German government announced it would support the installation of photovoltaic storage systems by contributing up to 30 percent of the storage system costs, driving an incentive program where solar customers benefit from storing their low-cost PV power for additional private consumption after daylight hours.

"This is a pioneering program designed to help quickly ascend the industry's steep learning curve," said Tobias Rothacher, senior manager of renewable energies at Germany Trade & Invest. "This government initiative is giving the German photovoltaic market a new perspective on how to grow even beyond the direct private consumption potential of about 100 GWp. Should decentralized storage systems become mainstream, the German PV market could potentially aim for more than 400 GWp of installed PV capacity."

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