Solar energy covered around 14 percent of electricity consumption in Germany last year, up from 12 percent in 2023. How does that compare to Australia?
According to the German Solar Industry Association1, the total output of all solar power plants, large and small, was over 100 gigawatts (GW) when the calendar changed to 2025.
Given that Germany isn’t as sunny as Australia, it’s pretty impressive that PV will cover 14 percent of electricity consumption in 2024. Last week we reported that throughout 2024, rooftop solar accounted for 12% of grid consumption in Australia’s NEM2. But what about adding utility-scale solar power? According to Open Electricity, PV supply accounted for 7.1% of consumption last year – so together they come to just over 19%.
According to BSW, “ground-level solar parks” (solar parks) were the biggest driver of PV growth in Germany, with an increase of around 40 percent compared to the previous year (6.3 GW – 32 GW cumulative). A growth increase of around 25 percent to 3.6 GW (29 GW in total) is expected for commercial solar systems on roofs last year.
But after several record years in a row, growth in the installation of solar power systems for private households in Germany slowed. Compared to 2023, the newly installed photovoltaic installation capacity (systems <30 kW) has fallen by an estimated 15 percent to 6.7 GW; This brings the total installed capacity to 38 GW.
In total, more than a million new solar power systems were registered in Germany in 2024, and the installed photovoltaic output grew by around 10 percent compared to 2023.
Balcony solar a big hit in Germany
Another aspect of PV that is increasing in Germany is “balcony” solar systems. These are small systems (maximum 800 W of power) that feed electricity directly into a socket to offset energy consumption in the house or building.
They are particularly popular in Germany, where newly installed capacity will double in 2024 compared to the previous year (0.4 GW – cumulative 0.7 GW). If all of these new systems were 800W, that would be 375,000 installations in 2024.
What about Balcony Solar in Australia?
The total installed capacity of approved balcony solar systems in Australia is 0 kW.
Balcony solar seems like a good idea for households that don’t have control over their roof, such as apartment dwellers. Given that it *seems* to be a self-evident solution; Why didn’t it start here?
We do not see these systems (legally) in Australia as feeding electricity back into an electrical system raises several concerns. Apart from that, such systems are quite limited in their performance here. For a more in-depth look at these topics, Kim’s article on balcony solar systems from last year provides some good information and interesting discussion.
Germany vs. Australia’s renewable energy goals
Germany has set a solar PV target of 215 GW for 2030 – so there are still five years left to install another 100 GW of capacity. The goal is also to obtain 80 percent of the country’s electricity from renewable energy sources by the same year. According to Fraunhofer ISE, the share of renewable energy was 56 percent in 2024, compared to 55.3 percent in 2023.
The Australian government has set a target of generating 82% renewable electricity nationwide by 2030. In 2024, renewables accounted for 38.9% in WA’s NEM and 38.8% in SWIS.
Footnotes
- BSW to his friends – also known as the Federal Association of the Solar Industry. ↩
- The National Electricity Market (NEM) consists of Queensland, New South Wales (including ACT), Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. In Western Australia’s South West Interconnected System (SWIS), Western Australia’s main electricity grid, rooftop solar contributed approximately 26% of SWIS consumption in 2024. ↩
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