The German experience with grid-connected PV-systems

Grid-connected photovoltaics experienced increasing attention in Germany in recent years and are expected to face a major boost at the beginning of th e new millennium. Highlights like the German 100,000-Roofs-Sofar-Programme, PV programmes at schools financed by utilities and governments (e.g. 'SONN Eonline' by PreussenElektra, 'Sonne in der Schule' by BMWi and 'Sonne in de r Schule' by Bayernwerk) and large centralised installations of MW size ('N eue Messe Munchen' by Bayernwerk and 'Energiepark Mont-Cenis' by state Nord rhein-Westfalen, Stadtwerke Herne and European Union) count for the potenti al of grid-connected PV. Today in Germany a typical grid-connected PV insta llation of 1 kW nominal power produces average annual energy yields of 700 kWh (dependent on location and system components) and shows a high operatin g availability. The price per kWh from PV installations is still significan tly higher than the price for conventional energy, but new funding schemes and cost models (like the large increase of feed-in tariff in Germany due t o the Act on Granting Priority to Renewable Energy Sources in 2000) give op timism about the future. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved .