At least 800.000 solar panels have now been installed in German households, according to new figures from the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur).

800.000 solar panels now installed in Germany

Germany’s solar panel surge has surpassed another milestone. According to a statement from the Bundesnetzagentur, 435.000 balcony solar panel kits were installed and registered in 2024. This brings the total number of installed solar panel kits up to 800.000.

The kits have become increasingly popular after the traffic-light coalition introduced its Solar Package I subsidy in January 2024, which subsidised installation and means solar panel owners can save money on utility bills. By April 2024, 400.000 balcony solar panels had been installed and registered.

Another milestone was surpassed in June when half a million kits had been registered. Now with over 800.000 registrations, the number of German households with solar panels has increased ten-fold since 2022.

Speaking to the AFP, researcher Leonhard Probst of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems and a representative of EmpowerSource, a sustainable energy consultancy firm, said the number of installed panels is likely already higher than 800.000. 

EmpowerSource estimates that Germany has closer to three million installed kits since many go unregistered, as renters and homeowners are no longer obliged to register their kits.

2024 was the hottest year on record

The news of Germany’s solar panel milestone comes in tandem with the confirmation that 2024 was the hottest year recorded on Earth, according to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).

A changing climate meant the annual global temperature was 1,6 degrees celsius over preindustrial levels, exceeding the 1,5-degree target set in the 2015 Paris Agreement to avoid life-threatening climate tipping points.

The success of reaching the Paris Agreement target is not based on a single year but over a decade or two. This means that one year breaching 1,5 degrees is not the same as the longer-term target being missed.

But this overshoot is likely unless governments worldwide introduce further climate protection regulations. “There’s now an extremely high likelihood that we will overshoot the long-term average of 1,5C in the Paris agreement limit,” said C3S deputy director Samantha Burgess. 

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