Germany Records Historic 12B KWh Solar Feed-In in July 2026

(solarquarter.com)

68 points | by johnbarron 2 hours ago

8 comments

  • A_D_E_P_T 1 hour ago
    Glass half full, I suppose. Germany is in the grip of an unusual and prolonged drought -- clear skies, intense daytime heat, no rain.

    > https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c78gn8zvrx4o

    I'm near Graz, in Austria, where we're also in the middle of a drought and in truth I can't remember a summer as hot as this one...

  • umpalumpaaa 21 minutes ago
    Germany has still one of the highest electricity and energy prices among developed nations which tremendously hurts its industrial base. That has to change too unless this cannot really be called a success I think.
    • mertbio 10 minutes ago
      The electricity prices for the industry are around the same since 2014: https://www.bdew.de/service/daten-und-grafiken/bdew-strompre...
    • tonyedgecombe 18 minutes ago
      The further we go down the renewables route the less we depend on despotic states for our energy.

      Energy may well be cheap in the US but you have been paying for that for decades through military misadventures in the middle east.

      • bradfa 1 minute ago
        We've gotten pretty good at digging holes in the ground and there's a lot of existing energy down there under our land (and near-by water). So yes, we've certainly had misadventures in the middle east, but we've also embraced the "drill baby drill" mantra of late.

        Texas is probably our national leader in terms of deploying solar and wind power, which feels ironic but is totally rational and logical.

      • Lord-Jobo 2 minutes ago
        It’s not possible to truly estimate what our military costs would be without those conflicts, but I would be interested in our energy costs if you incorporated the military costs into that. I’m willing to bet we pay more than nearly anyone else if you lump it in relatively fairly.
    • toomuchtodo 4 minutes ago
      Ember Energy: European electricity prices and costs - https://ember-energy.org/data/european-electricity-prices-an... (updated daily)
  • NKosmatos 30 minutes ago
    Whenever I see news like this one I feel bad for us in Greece... we have so much sun yet we don't utilize it to the maximum we could for generating electricity and our KWh price is one of the most expensive in Europe. It's a pitty the government doesn't invest in solar or encourage households to do so :-(
    • Rnonymous 19 minutes ago
      I see this in so many sunny countries, which is such a shame. So what prevents you from just installing panels on your roof?
      • tonyedgecombe 14 minutes ago
        GDP per capita in Greece is €29,696, in Germany it is €65,303. Rich countries can afford to decarbonise more quickly.
  • scary-size 29 minutes ago
    Yey, we contribute 432 kWh to that. Northern Germany, small 6.3 kWp system.
    • madduci 3 minutes ago
      530 kWh here in July pushed to the grid with a 5kWp system
    • stkdump 11 minutes ago
      817 kWh here. Though june last year was the record at 904 kWh. Maybe the effect is that solar panels lose efficiency when too hot.
  • coffeebeqn 29 minutes ago
    12 TWh
    • 4k0hz 18 minutes ago
      Or 12 trillion nuclear power plants with a capacity of 1 Wh each
      • tonyedgecombe 13 minutes ago
        I'd like a nuclear power plant with a capacity of 1 Wh to play with.
    • Faaak 23 minutes ago
      But how many AAA-batteries is that?
    • fhdkweig 20 minutes ago
      To answer tyromaniac's question that is dead and therefore I can reply to: The United States utility companies bill by the kWh, so American-centric news will report in multiples of that unit.

      And as a sidenote, why do people downvote a question rather than answer it? Some of us like answering questions and deadening a question removes that ability.

  • bcjdjsndon 1 hour ago
    Climate change has come through for us once again
  • AlexandrB 13 minutes ago
    > He noted that the term “solar subsidy” can be misleading, as it implies that every kilowatt-hour of solar electricity fed into the grid is fully funded by public money.

    > The IWR explained that Germany’s Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) operates on a differential cost model for new photovoltaic systems. Under the mechanism, electricity generated by solar installations is first sold on the power exchange, with the resulting market revenues credited to the EEG account. Only the difference between the market price and the statutory feed-in tariff is compensated through the EEG account.

    Wait, this is still being subsidized by taxpayers? And Germany has some of the highest energy prices in Europe?

    I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. On the one hand folks are happy to tout solar and wind as "the cheapest energy you can get" and on the other we have the market realities of what consumers and taxpayers are paying. There's a policy failure somewhere if the cheapness to produce energy this way is not being reflected in the market and subsidy structure. Does anyone have an analysis of wtf is going on?

    • mertbio 5 minutes ago
      I'm a consumer in Germany, and I pay 250€ for 1.200 kWh (my yearly consumption). I don't know anyone who is paying those high prices mentioned in the articles. There are many electricity providers in Germany, and that creates competition; therefore, you get a lot of cash back by switching providers.
  • tyromaniac 38 minutes ago
    [dead]