Germany installed more than 2 gigawatts of solar, according to the latest figures from the country's industry group BSW. And that was only just December. By comparison, the United States installed about 1.7 gigawatts of solar photovoltaic panels in 2011.
Germany has long dominated in solar, in terms of installed capacity. Thanks to the rising cost of oil and gas and the precipitous drop in solar system prices, 2011 was no different than previous years. Newly installed photovoltaic capacity for 2011 is expected to reach approximately the level of the previous year, BSW said in a recent release. In 2010, Germany added 7.4 GW.
But, as Greentech Media recently noted, there's a reason why December brought in big installation numbers: feed-in tariff reductions. As of Jan. 1, Germany's feed-in tariff dropped 15 percent. The feed-in tariff is expected to be cut another 15 percent as of July 1. Meaning, there will likely be a lot of solar installation activity in the first half of 2012.
A few other takeaways, based on preliminary figures from BSW:
[Via: Greentech Media; BSW]
Photo: Flickr user Pure3d, CC 2.0
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This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com