German 2020 Solar Capacity May Exceed Wind, State Adviser Says

Germany probably will have more production capacity at solar power plants than from wind-energy turbines within a decade, a government energy adviser said.

Europe’s biggest electricity producer by the end of the decade will likely have about 42 gigawatts of installed capacity from photovoltaic panels that turn sunlight into power, compared with 41.9 gigawatts of wind power, both onshore and offshore, Stefan Kohler, chairman of the DENA agency, an energy adviser to the government, said today at a briefing in Berlin.

Germany has become the world’s largest market for solar panels, spurred by guaranteed premium prices for electricity generated using renewable sources. Installations of solar panels will probably double this year in Germany, bringing installed capacity to almost 9 gigawatts, Kohler said.