© Image: BMWi/ Data: IRENA

21% of the world’s installed solar capacity is located in Germany, 16% in China and 13% in Japan. In absolute terms: according to IRENA, the world’s photovoltaic capacity was 179.6 gigawatts (GW) at the end of 2014. Of that, Germany accounted for 38.2 GW, China for 28.1 GW and Japan for 23.3 GW.

The ongoing expansion of solar energy capacity in Germany’s electricity sector is mainly the result of funding under the Renewable Energy Sources Act. Since of this year, new rules apply to the funding of ground-mounted PV installations. The 2014 Renewable Energy Sources Act created the preconditions to convert the funding of renewable energy from rates prescribed by the administration to rates determined by competition: new ground-mounted PV installations – solar panels installed on level ground but not on roofs or buildings – only receive funding under the Renewable Energy Sources Act if they have taken part in a bidding process and their bid is successful. The bidders demanding the lowest funding amount will be given the contract. In other words, funding will go to those who ask for less money.

The first round of the pilot auction was concluded on 15 April 2015. The high level of participation confirms that acceptance of the new instrument is high. The bids for the second round of the auction can be submitted to the Federal Network Agency by 1 August 2015; the deadline for the third round is 1 December 2015. Bidders who did not win in the first round can try again in the forthcoming rounds.

The pilot auction for ground-mounted PV installations aims to achieve the expansion targets for renewables in a cost-efficient manner while maintaining a high level of public acceptance and stakeholder diversity. At the same time, the number of ground-mounted PV installations shall be steadily increased. Another important point is that these pilot auctions help to gain experience for the future auction design for other types of renewable energy.

The IRENA statistics also offer interesting data on these other types broken down by country. There are data on wind and hydro capacity and installed capacity from biomass, geothermal energy and marine energy. With a capacity of 39.6 GW, Germany is the world’s third-largest producer of wind power after China and the USA and, with a global share of 9%, ranks fourth in terms of electricity generation from biomass.