Germany Added Record Solar Panels in 2012 Even as Subsidies Cut

Bloomberg

Renewable-energy developers in Germany, the world’s biggest solar market, added a record number of panels last year even after subsidies were cut back.

Solar installations climbed to 7,634 megawatts, up 2 percent from 7,485 megawatts in 2011, according to figures from the Bundesnetzagentur grid regulator and the Environment Ministry. That was more than double the government’s maximum target of 3,500 megawatts.

Fourth-quarter installations, which fell 66 percent compared with the previous year, show that the new system of reduced subsidies that took full effect from October is working, said Ingo Strube, a spokesman for the Environment Ministry in Berlin.