Germany connected solar systems with a combined capacity of almost 1.2 GW to the power grid in July, hitting a new monthly record and bringing the total solar capacity in operation to 75.1 GW.
In the first seven months of 2023, new solar installations across the country reached 7.69 GW with three federal states — Bavaria, Baden-Wuerttemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia deploying more than 1 GW each in the period, according to data from the Federal Network Agency.
If the current rate of solar energy deployment continues, Germany is on track to exceed the 9-GW target for the year but it still needs to accelerate monthly installations to 1.5 GW to reach its 2030 renewable energy targets. To reach this goal, the German government last week approved a package of legislative measures meant to speed up expansion and reduce bureaucracy.
Most of the solar power plants launched in July were subsidised — 729.2 MW of rooftop systems and 212.7 MW of ground-mounted facilities. Around 256 MW of the total capacity came from subsidy-free installations of which 226.1 MW are ground-mounted solar parks.
The figures for the previous months were revised to reflect a higher capacity.
Unlike solar energy, onshore wind expansion slowed down again in July with newly installed capacity totalling 206 MW, down from 350 MW in the previous month. At the end of July, Germany had 29,486 wind turbines in operation with a total capacity of 59.56 GW.
The table provides more details about new solar and wind installations in Germany in 2023
| Net new capacity in MW | Solar | Onshore wind | Offshore wind |
| January | 976.8 | 60.4 | 38.1 |
| February | 879.6 | 147 | 38.1 |
| March | 1,188 | 268.6 | 66.7 |
| April | 1,090.6 | 248.8 | 66.7 |
| May | 1,198.6 | 272.8 | 19.1 |
| June | 1,159.6 | 350.4 | 0 |
| July | 1,199.8 | 206.1 | 0 |
| Total | 7,693 | 1,554.1 | 228.7 |
