German body sees major impact of solar energy on country's economy

The rapidly increasing use of solar energy is proving to be a huge boom for Germany's economy, according to the German Solar Association (BSW).

The shift towards the renewable energy source is also promoting independence from fossil fuel imports, BSW-Solar said ahead of the three-day Intersolar trade fair opening in Munich on Tuesday.

The approximately 6 million solar power systems now installed across Germany have generated economic benefits in the hundreds of billions of euros over the past six years, the association calculates.

Fossil fuel imports worth around €20 billion ($23 billion) were replaced between 2020 and 2025. At the same time, climate damage costs of up to €250 billion were avoided, BSW-Solar said.

In total, nearly 390 billion kilowatt-hours of solar power was generated during this period. This amount of electricity has significantly reduced the demand for fossil fuels and the associated greenhouse gas emissions.

According to the German Federal Environment Agency, the use of solar power in Germany has avoided the emission of some 500 million metric tons of greenhouse gases (CO2 equivalents) over the past 20 years. More than half of this was achieved in the years 2020 to 2025 alone.

"Every new solar power plant reduces our dependence on energy imports and makes electricity prices more resilient to geopolitical crises," said Carsten Körnig, chief executive of BSW-Solar.

The expansion of solar and storage technologies must be consistently pursued, he stressed. According to the association, Germany's solar and storage industry currently employs around 120,000 people and generates annual revenue of approximately €30 billion.