By the end of 2025, almost 4.8 million photovoltaic (PV) systems were installed on roofs and land across Germany, delivering a total nominal capacity of about 106,200 MW, according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). This represents a 17.6 % increase in the number of systems and an 11.8 % rise in installed capacity compared with the previous year. In contrast, the end‑2024 figures show roughly 4.0 million systems generating 95,000 MW.
The pace of new installations has recently slowed. At the end of 2024, the total number of systems was 27.7 % higher than at the end of 2023, while the yearly growth in 2023 was 27.3 %. The statistics include every PV installation that feeds electricity into the public grid and is measured by a meter; smaller setups such as balcony power plants are usually excluded.
Imports of PV equipment fell in 2025. The value of imported solar cells and modules dropped 7.8 % from the previous year to €1.8 billion. Exports declined even more sharply, falling from €513 million in 2024 to €358 million in 2025-a reduction of 30.1 %. China remains by far the largest supplier, accounting for 88.0 % of PV equipment imported into Germany in 2025, followed by the Netherlands at 5.2 %.
The import value was almost five times the export value. Most German exports went to European partners, with Italy (15.9 %), Austria (14.8 %) and Switzerland (7.2 %) being the top recipients.
Domestic production of solar modules dropped significantly in the first three quarters of 2025, falling 60.6 % year‑on‑year to 509,200 units. Production had already fallen in 2024, with about 1.5 million modules produced for sale-more than half the output of the prior year (a 56.2 % decline). In 2023, nearly 3.5 million modules were manufactured.
Private households are not only using solar power for self‑consumption but also feeding surplus electricity back into the grid. In 2023, 4.9 % of German households (approximately 2.0 million) generated income from selling solar power. This share has grown over recent years; in 2018, only 2.9 % (1.2 million households) did so. The average monthly revenue for these households in 2023 was €153, down 37 % from the €243 average in 2018. The drop is likely linked to the declining feed‑in tariffs for new PV installations set under the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG).
