China Germany's top supplier of PV systems: Destatis

Employees work at a company producing solar modules in Dongying, east China's Shandong Province, Feb. 24, 2023.  (Photo by Liu Yunjie/Xinhua)

"The total production capacity for solar modules in the European Union is significantly lower than that of individual Chinese suppliers," Heiko Stohlmeyer, director of Renewable Energies at PwC Germany, said in a statement.

BERLIN, March 1 (Xinhua) -- China was Germany's number one supplier of photovoltaic (PV) systems, providing around 87 percent of the country's imports in 2022, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said on Wednesday.

The PV systems imported from China were worth around 3.1 billion euros (3.3 billion U.S. dollars), according to Destatis. China was followed by the Netherlands with 143 million euros.

"Since the downturn of the German solar industry," photovoltaic modules are now largely built in China, according to a study published by the auditing and consulting services company PwC Germany at the end of last year.

"The total production capacity for solar modules in the European Union is significantly lower than that of individual Chinese suppliers," Heiko Stohlmeyer, director of Renewable Energies at PwC Germany, said in a statement.

A staff member works at a solar photovoltaic module production company in Feidong County of Hefei, east China's Anhui Province, Jan. 28, 2023. (Photo by Ruan Xuefeng/Xinhua)

Germany aims to be climate neutral by 2045. In addition, the share of renewable energies in gross electricity consumption is to increase from 44 percent in 2022 to at least 80 percent by 2030. PV systems in particular are to play an important role as their share only reached 10 percent last year.

The energy transition in Europe's largest economy is "not progressing fast enough," a recent study published by the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) and the consulting firm Ernst and Young (EY) found.

"Although photovoltaics had the highest expansion rate of all technologies in 2021, it is still questionable whether the targets for 2030 will be achieved," the study said.  (1 euro = 1.07 U.S. dollar) 

China-Europe freight train "Shanghai Express" is seen in Hamburg, Germany, on Oct. 26, 2021. (Xinhua/Wang Qing)