Germany is second in terms of installed solar power capacity, trailing only global leader China. German solar industry experienced tremendous increase in installed power capacity in 2008-2012 period but since then the new solar power installations have been declining steadily.
But it looks like Germany's solar industry is back on track, this time characterized by steady and slower growth and not like in its prime years by meteoric rise in PV installations.
It is expected that German solar power capacity growth should reach the 2.5GW annual expansion target this year. A few years ago, Germany introduced subsidy degression dependent on capacity growth. As a result of this solar subsidies declined gradually, and in 2016 Germany decided to shift subsidies for solar installations above 750kW from a guaranteed payment model to competitive tenders.