A core facet of Chancellor Merkel's historic "Energiewende" clean energy transition, Germany has led the world in driving adoption of solar energy technology and systems. Although it is now pulling back hard on incentives, the market momentum created by its precedent-setting solar energy feed-in tariff (FiT) persists.

 

Three national solar energy records were set in Germany over the past two weeks. According to the Fraunhofer ISE solar energy research institute:

 

- Solar met more than 50 percent of Germany's total electricity demand for the first time;

- A new solar peak power production record was set; and

- Weekly total solar power output hit new highs.

 

Germany's solar and renewable energy leadership can serve as a model for other nations and the international community as they head into the "home stretch" of negotiating a successor to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Kyoto Protocol.

 

Germany is not known for its abundance of sunshine. That makes solar energy's success there even more remarkable. Another thing that truly distinguishes solar energy's success in Germany is that it's so democratic in nature.