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Germany enters PV grid parity age

The world’s largest solar PV market, Germany, has achieved PV grid parity, according to a new report.

The Photovoltaic Market in Germany, published today by the country’s foriegn trade agency Germany Trade & Invest, reveals that the nation hit this milestone in 2011 with levelised cost of energy (LCOE) of newly installed systems equal to retail electricity prices for private households.

More than 4.3GW of PV was installed throughout Germany in the first half of 2012 as consumers’ reliance on Feed-in Tariffs to justify investment in PV shifts towards its real terms competitiveness with traditional fossil fuel energy sources. 

The report says: “Thanks to a sharp fall in PV rooftop system prices in recent years, many electricity customer segments in Germany are now able to produce PV electricity cheaper from their roofs than buying electricity from the grid.

“Today, the FIT for a rooftop project is already below the level of domestic household electricity prices. This makes it financially more attractive for the PV system owner to directly consume the solar electricity generated than make use of the FIT.”

The full report can be read here.