Between January and May 2024, the value of imported solar cells and modules fell to just under €605 million compared to the same period last year, and the value of exported PV products also fell to €216 million. For the first quarter, the Federal Statistical Office reports a drastic drop in the number of modules manufactured in Germany to just under 495,600.
In 2023, Germany imported almost €3.6 billion worth of PV systems, mainly solar cells and modules. Compared to the previous year, the value fell by 12.5%, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reported on Monday.
Solar photovoltaic imports continued to decline sharply in the first five months of the year compared to the same period last year. According to Destatis, the value fell by two-thirds to just under 605 million euros. The value of exported PV products also fell by 64.9% over the period, from just under 616 million euros to just over 216 million euros. The year before, the value of exports had already fallen by almost a quarter to approximately € 1.1 billion.
China remains “by far the most important country of origin” for PV products, accounting for 86.4% of products imported into Germany. The Netherlands comes in second place with 5.4%, ahead of Vietnam with 2.6%. European countries lead the way when it comes to exports: 17.8% of PV products go to Austria, followed by Italy with 11.4% and Switzerland with 9%.
Destatis also evaluated the figures for solar panel production in Germany, which show that 52.8% fewer units were produced in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same period last year. According to the Statistical Office, just under 495,600 solar panels were produced in Germany. The decline in the production of solar collectors for solar thermal systems was even greater. Between January and March 2024, their production fell by 67.1% to approximately 21,300 units. With regard to module production in Germany, Destatis further reports that in 2023 there was already an annual decrease from 4 million to just over 3.4 million solar panels.
Destatis also published figures on the overall development of the German PV market: in April the total number of installed PV systems amounted to 3.4 million with a total capacity of 81.5 GW. Compared to April 2023, this represents an increase of 29.8% in systems and 20.5% in installed capacity. These figures include all PV systems that feed into the public grid and have an electricity meter. PV balcony systems are therefore generally not included.
Last year, the PV systems deployed supplied approximately 53.6 million MWh of solar energy to the grid – a record 11.9% of total electricity imports, according to Destatis. Last year the share was 10.6%. June 2023 turned out to be the record month with a contribution of more than 8.5 million MWh of solar energy, good for a share of 27.3% in that month.
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.
