2023-09-18 22:01:15
Anyone who has ever looked over the rooftops of Frankfurt may have spotted the exhibition halls that extend across large parts of the Europaviertel. In Hall 12, there are 5,300 modules spread over the area of a football field – that’s quite a lot. The roof area of the two logistics halls that the wholesaler Metro has now built with photovoltaic modules is 14 times larger – a gigantic area. A few kilometers from the coal-fired power plant in Marl, Germany’s largest solar system is now on a roof – a symbol of the energy transition.
Photovoltaics is booming throughout Germany. In the first half of the year alone, around 465,000 new solar systems with an output of 6,500 megawatts went into operation, 64 percent more compared to the same period last year. Speed is also urgently needed given the federal government’s ambitious expansion goals – 22 gigawatts of expansion every year from 2026. There is no reason to be euphoric: the large number of systems suggests that it is primarily the expansion of homeowners that is booming.
There is still a lot of potential for the energy transition
Many companies, however, are hesitant. For them, installing and operating a solar system is particularly worthwhile if they use a large proportion of the electricity generated themselves. According to a representative Yougov survey published by the Federal Solar Industry Association last fall, more than a third of companies are planning to install a photovoltaic system on the roof.
But many companies – especially those with little opportunity for their own consumption – have not yet put their plans into action. They are struggling with rising interest rates, which make financing via the market premium significantly less attractive. Also not helpful are the numerous requirements for network connection, which can vary greatly from federal state to federal state and from network operator to network operator (a total of almost 900 in Germany). This small state system is not particularly helpful.
Hanna Decker Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 6 Corinna Budras, Berlin Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 134 Anne Kokenbrink Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 53
The federal government has already adopted a bit of bureaucracy reduction with the solar package. She has to keep at it here. So far, only a tenth of the roof areas of commercial businesses that are theoretically suitable for photovoltaic systems are equipped with them. There is still a lot of potential for the energy transition here.
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