The German Solar Industry Association (BSW) is expecting a market growth of 10 - 20% for 2006. One of the reasons for the continuing market growth is the Renewable Energies Act (EEG) which guarantees attractive pay-back rates to operators of photovoltaic installations. Other important drivers are the export of solar technology and the rocketing prices of conventional energies.

The development of the German solar industry is truly impressive: while in 2000, the market volume was € 450m, sales rose more than eight-fold over the subsequent five years. In 2005, the German solar industry generated € 3.7b in sales, 80% of which were due to photovoltaics installations for the production of electricity from the sun. According to surveys by the German Solar Industry Association (BSW), the German photovoltaics industry invests an annual € 500m into setting up and expanding laboratories and production sites. At the beginning of this year, there were more than 5.000 solar companies employing around 42,500 people in Germany.

In the area of solar thermal technology, the generation of heat for space heating and hot water, Germany also takes a leading position. The total collector surface installed is approximately 6.7m square metres, and has an output of 4,690 Megawatts (MWth). In 2005, 950,000 square metres with an output capacity of 665 MWth were installed. As a result, Germany makes up around 50% of the European solar thermal market, followed by Greece, Austria and Spain, with market shares of 12%, 11% and 7% respectively.

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