Germany Moving Away from Solar Parks to Rooftop Schemes

June 22nd, 2012 by Nicholas Brown

According to a recent McKinsey study, more than half of all installed solar power generation capacity worldwide could be from rooftop setups under which people generate their own electricity, rather than buying it from a typical centralized power plant.

Germany already has half of the world’s photovoltaic solar power generation capacity, and it has been aggressively pursuing solar power with great success (as our regular readers are well aware).

“Those companies who survive the current consolidation wave will experience a bright future. Especially the rooftop segment and downstream business models are expected to drive the industry forward,” stated Tobias Rothacher, photovoltaic industry expert at Germany Trade & Invest in Berlin.

The global solar industry is struggling with the fact that solar panel costs are being driven down by increased competition and economies of scale, causing their prices and profit margins to fall.

However, worldwide solar power generation capacity is expected to increase by another 400 GW to 600 GW.

“Germany has supported own consumption of solar power for years. The coming grid parity era is ushering in an era of new business opportunities. We expect Germany to continue to be the top business location, as innovations and industry standards are developed here,” according to Tobias Rothacher.

Rooftop Solar Schemes Have Potential Reliability and Cost Benefits (when you look at the big picture)

In rooftop solar schemes, solar panels are spread out over a much larger area than they would be at a typical solar power plant, at which they are normally squeezed into the smallest possible space.

Clouds are able to cover more solar panels during one pass-over if they are closer together. Spreading solar panels out over a larger area means that fewer of them will be shaded by clouds and the overall system’s power production will not decrease nearly as much.

About the cost benefit: the more solar panels there are spread over a good distance, the greater the reliability, and the less solar panels will need to be backed up with either natural gas generators or batteries, both of which are costly in multiple ways.

Source: PR Newswire
Photo Credit: h080

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Tags: decentralized electricity, Decentralized Solar, Distributed Solar, Germany, germany rooftop solar, germany solar energy, photovoltaic panels, photovoltaic power plant, zero emissions power plants

About the Author

Nicholas Brown writes on CleanTechnica, Gas2, Kleef&Co, and Green Building Elements. He has a keen interest in physics-intensive topics such as electricity generation, refrigeration and air conditioning technology, energy storage, and geography. His website is: Kompulsa.com.

wattleberry

I hope these will be combined PV and thermal where possible?
Albert Lahey

Been saying it for years, the amount of wasted space on our roof’s worldwide is staggering.

This is a vital tactic- It will provide Jobs, and more economic freedom in the future.

Cover every Roof in Solar Panels!
Anne

The most important advantage goes unmentioned: rooftop solar doesn’t eat up land. Land that could otherwise be left alone. Land we commonly refer to as ‘nature’.

I don’t see the cloud argument as very important. Even large solar power plants are in the 10’s of MW’s, and you need many of them to have a meaningful contribution. Those many plants are spread out over a large area and will benefit the same effect as the smaller rooftop installations.
Bob_Wallace

Plus, by distributing panels over a wider area you can minimize the amount of new transmission needed. You might not need to build any at all.

It’s likely that much of the generated power would be utilized at the ‘neighborhood’ level. Any extra might not exceed what the local grid is designed to carry. If the grid was designed to “import” 100% of the neighborhood needs it would have no problem running 100% in the other direction and rooftop solar is unlikely to be installed at 2x local needs.