Germany news: Solar power production approaches record high

An above-average number of sunshine hours and the growing number of photovoltaic facilities has contributed to solar energy production that is approaching a record total for Germany, an industry association says.

By September 27, solar energy output had reached 90.2 terawatt-hours, which is already more than the 90 terawatt-hours generated for all of 2025, according to the German Solar Association (BSW -Solar) in Berlin.

That means that solar energy in net electricity generation in Germany is likely to reach a record level of more than 100 terawatt-hours in a single calendar year — almost 10 times the amount of electricity used by a major city like Hamburg in a year.

It is also almost 50 times as much as the 2.2 terawatt-hours generated by solar power 20 years ago.

Carsten Körnig, the managing director of BSW-Solar, said the likely record was an important milestone as the world seeks to move away from climate-changing fossil fuels.

"Photovoltaics has developed from a niche technology into a cornerstone of our electricity supply," Körnig said.

"Society as a whole benefits from this: through cheaper electricity, fewer energy import and significantly lower climate-related damages," he said.

At 17.8% of total power generation, photovoltaics was the third most important energy source of domestically produced electricity behind wind power — the top energy source — followed by coal.

Guten Tag from the DW newsroom in Bonn!

Sunny days might be getting rarer now as winter comes into sight, but this year has nonetheless been a very good one for solar energy so far, with almost a fifth of total electricity generation coming from photovoltaics.

We will be looking at that bumper solar harvest, which seems likely to hit a record high.

On a less positive note, economics experts are warning that Germany could run into big budget problems amid record high borrowing.

And another warning has come from experts in view of the latest Microsoft outage: "Don't put all your eggs in one (tech) basket," they are telling German businesses and government agencies.

You can read more about these and other stories in this blog covering all things German.