Germany installed 1.23 GW of solar capacity in September, down from 1.64 GW in August, as utility-scale additions hit their lowest level of 2026 and rooftop demand remained weak. Despite the slowdown, installations in the first nine months of 2026 reached 12.76 GW, slightly above the same period last year.
The anticipated recovery in Germany’s rooftop solar market has yet to materialize, while utility-scale solar installations have declined sharply, according to the Federal Network Agency’s latest figures for September.
Germany added 1,226 MW of new PV capacity in September, down from 1,644 MW in August and up from 920 MW in September 2025. Only February 2026 recorded a lower monthly total over the past 12 months.
The Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) based its figures on commissioning and decommissioning data submitted to the Market Master Data Register (Marktstammdatenregister) by Oct. 13. The agency applied a 15% adjustment to account for installations that have yet to be registered, as operators have four weeks to report new systems.
Utility-scale solar additions fall to lowest level of 2026
The Federal Network Agency recorded 38,859 new rooftop PV systems with a combined capacity of 554 MW in September, slightly above the 539 MW registered in August. Monthly additions reached 814 MW in July and 672 MW in June.
The figures suggest that the expected rush to install rooftop PV systems ahead of planned changes to Germany’s Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) has yet to materialize. The federal government’s draft legislation proposes phasing out feed-in tariffs for small PV systems after a transition period. The changes are scheduled to take effect in early 2027.
Utility-scale solar additions fell sharply in September, with just 103 ground-mounted projects totaling 479 MW – the lowest monthly figure of the year. In August, 166 solar parks with a combined capacity of 1,054 MW were commissioned.
Plug-in solar installations also declined. The agency recorded 28,647 new systems totaling 42 MW in September, compared with 41,978 systems and 61 MW in August.
At the end of September, Germany had 6.34 million operational PV systems with a combined capacity of 130.7 GW. Since the beginning of 2026, 660,445 systems totaling 12,762 MW have been commissioned, while 29,898 systems with a combined capacity of 136 MW have been decommissioned.
As a way of comparison, in the first nine months of 2025 the country installed 12.56 of new PV installations.
EWS reports unexpectedly weak solar growth in September
German PV wholesaler EWS also reported relatively weak installation figures for September. Its analysis of Market Master Data Register figures showed 1,026 MW of newly installed PV capacity based on data available at the beginning of the week.
The figure remains preliminary, as operators have one month to register new installations and additional reports are expected. EWS expects September additions to remain below those of previous months, even after late registrations are included. Its latest figures show 1,941 MW of new capacity in July and 1,651 MW in August.
However, the company expects September installations to exceed those recorded in the same month last year, when additions totaled 1,024 MW, including late registrations.
EWS also compared Germany’s solar market performance over the first three quarters of 2025 and 2026, highlighting a shift toward larger installations despite relatively stable overall deployment.
“After three quarters, the German photovoltaic market is statistically tracking remarkably closely to the levels seen in previous years. The total photovoltaic capacity added so far is slightly higher than that of the first three quarters of 2024 and 2025. At the same time, the market structure is undergoing a significant shift. While project-based business and the traditional specialized trade segment were still evenly balanced in 2025, new capacity is increasingly shifting toward large-scale installations – a trend that began as early as 2024,” EWS said.
PV systems larger than 750 kW continue to gain market share, accounting for approximately 57% of all new solar capacity installed in Germany so far this year.
By contrast, installations in market segments traditionally served by specialist installers continue to decline. The downturn affects both commercial PV systems and residential rooftop installations of up to 10 kW. According to EWS, newly installed capacity in these segments has fallen by more than 40% since 2024.
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