Germany
PV technology status and prospects
Christoph Hünnekes, Projektträger Jülich (PTJ), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH 		home > annual reports > annual report 2002 >

General Framework

Fig. 1 - Governmental Funding of R&D in 2002 The reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases is an important target of many environmental policies in Germany. It is expected that photovoltaic (PV) may contribute to this target in the long term.

Analysis performed for the Federal Ministry of Environment (BMU) [1] came to the conclusion that there is a technical potential for all renewable energies in Germany of 450 TWh electricity annually and that PV may be responsible for approximately 19 % of this. Therefore, research, development and demonstration as well as market introduction of PV are supported from several sides, especially the Federal Government, the Federal States, local authorities and utilities.
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National Programme

Since autumn 2002, the Federal Ministry of Environment (BMU) is responsible for the renewable energies within the Federal Government. Research and Development (R&D) is conducted under the 4th Programme on Energy Research and Energy Technology. Important parts of this programme, namely the development of techniques for an efficient use of energy and renewable energies are managed by the Project Management Organisation PTJ.

In 2002, the federal support for R&D on PV amounted to about 23,6 MEUR shared by 129 projects in total. The distribution of the budget to the various sectors of R&D shows that funding is concentrated on the long-term options and activities to create a technological basis for small and medium enterprises (see Fig. 1).

In January 1999, the so called “100 000 Rooftops Solar Electricity Programme” came into force. It is expected that with support of this programme approx. 300 MW will be installed until the end of 2003.

In addition to this programme, the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) works are guaranteeing a feed in tariff of currently 0,48 EUR/kWh for PV (initially the EEG started with 99 DPf / kWh – 0,51 EUR/kWh).
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Research, Development and Demonstration

Fig. 2 - EFG Cell Production Line of RWE Schott Solar’s SmartSolarFab™. [Photo RWE Schott Solar GmbH, Alzenau] With a time horizon of ten years a so-called "Way Paving Programme Photovoltaic 2005" has been formulated in the 4th Energy R, D&D Programme with three main goals: In the following, selected topics of important R&D-activities in Germany are described.

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Implementation

Fig. 3 - Grid connected PV power supported by the Federal 100 000 Rooftops Solar Power Programme In recent years, Germany has executed important programmes in the field of PV which have triggered remarkable results in market development and technology progress. Complementary to the R, D&D- programme the following measures in the area of market introduction have been established: [ Top ]


Industry Status

During recent years, an industrial infrastructure has been created with the main focus on crystalline Silicon technologies. Like almost everywhere, the PV market still strongly depends on governmental support.

For 2000, the BMU estimates a total turnover of 340 MEUR for PV in Germany. Roughly 4 000 full time labor positions are connected to this business [1].
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Market Development incentives

Fig. 4 - Cumulated grid connected PV power in Germany The programmes described above have accelerated the installation of PV-systems in Germany significantly (Fig. 4). Following a first estimate there could be roughly 260 MWp on the grid at the end of 2002.
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Future Outlook

While the EEG was extended to a maximum PV capacity of 1 000 MW in summer 2002 the “100 000 Rooftops Solar Electricity Programme” was designed to run until the end of 2003. Follow-up initiatives are under discussion but currently, it is not clear which kind of incentive will be adopted.
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Further reading about Germany


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