Successful renewable energies: record solar power

The energy transition is making great progress – still. At the weekend, solar power production in Germany this year exceeded that of the entire previous year, 2025. The Federal Solar Industry Association (BSW-Solar) announced this on Monday. He warns of the consequences of the reform of energy laws by Federal Minister of Economics Katherina Reiche (CDU).

On Sunday, the mark of 90.2 terawatt hours of solar power generated was reached. In the whole of 2025 there were 90.0 terawatt hours, around a fifth of the electricity generation in Germany. “Solar energy is no longer a niche technology,” says Carsten Körnig, head of BSW-Solar. “It is citizen energy, company energy and a mainstay of our electricity supply.” According to the association, a typical solar system with an output of 10 kilowatts can generate an annual output of around 10,000 kilowatt hours of electricity.

The new record is due to both an exceptionally high number of hours of sunshine and the further expansion of photovoltaics. This is shown by data from the German Weather Service and the Federal Network Agency.

“The solar record is a reason to be happy, but not a reason to sit back,” says Körnig. The industry fears that the further expansion of solar energy will be significantly slowed down. The Bundestag is currently discussing an amendment to the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) presented by Minister Reiche and the so-called network package for network expansion.

The laws are expected to be passed in mid-October and apply from 2027. The minister wants rooftop solar systems to no longer be guaranteed remuneration for the electricity that operators feed into the grid, unlike today. After a transition period of three years, operators will be able to market their electricity themselves - although it is unclear how this will happen.

The solar association demands, among other things, that this obligation for so-called direct marketing does not apply and that a reliable remuneration framework is maintained. The renewables industry expects demand for rooftop solar systems to collapse by more than 70 percent if the laws pass in their current form.