The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer ISE) has developed a new way to quantify self-PV consumption in Germany using data from the national register and the grid operator, amid a steady increase in on-site use as installations and storage capacity increase.
Given the high costs of electricity in Germany, PV system operators see the value of directly consuming solar energy generated or storing it in battery systems. Fraunhofer ISE has developed a new method to estimate the level of own photovoltaic consumption.
Self-consumption of solar energy is an important incentive for households and companies to invest in photovoltaic systems in Germany. However, from published electricity generation data it is often unclear how much of the output generated is used on site.
Fraunhofer ISE has now developed for the first time a method to quantify its own PV consumption using data from the Market Master Data Register and the transmission system operators.
Analyzes based on this method show a strong increase in own photovoltaic consumption. After initially moderate growth, self-consumption reached 3.55 TWh in 2020 and rose to 5.57 TWh in 2022, according to new data released this week by the Freiburg-based researchers. Their calculations show that self-consumption from photovoltaic systems in Germany reached 8.20 TWh in 2023.
“In 2024, self-consumption reached 12.28 TWh. With a feed back into the electricity grid of almost 60 TWh, self-consumption in 2024 accounted for 17% of net electricity generation from photovoltaic solar energy,” says Tobias Reuther, data expert for renewable energy generation at Fraunhofer ISE. This represents a significant increase compared to last year’s 13%.
Researchers expect that the share of solar self-consumption will continue to rise – not only due to the continued expansion of photovoltaic systems, but also due to growing battery storage capacity and high electricity prices. Self-consumption is especially attractive for households with heat pumps or electric vehicles. At the same time it supports the stability of the grid.
“The electricity is produced directly where it is consumed, without ever ending up on the electricity grid,” says Christoph Kost, head of the Energy System Analysis department at Fraunhofer ISE.
The new method categorizes PV system inventory based on commissioning date, power class and system type. By including data on feed-in behavior and installed storage capacity, the researchers estimated self-consumption for a total of 44 different system groups.
Fraunhofer ISE’s findings are included in an analysis by the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA), which also provides extensive data and statistics on the development of solar photovoltaics in Germany.
This content is copyrighted and may not be reused. If you would like to collaborate with us and reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
