In short
Working it out from the generation data.
The latest data
Live is the latest quarter hour Energy-Charts has, usually about three hours old, since the grid operators report with a delay.
The story
Five chapters on what solar parity meant in 2012, and how long the grid took to change after it.
1What parity meant in 2012
Solar capacity: six flat years after parity
Solar panels installed in Germany at the end of each year, in GW (DC). 2026 is the latest figure.
2The 22 GW day is now lunchtime
Hours a year with solar above the 2012 record
Hours each year with solar feeding at least 22 GW into the grid. The last bar is the latest 365 days.
3The fossil floor fell, the ceiling held
Fossil floor and ceiling by year
The lowest and highest quarter hour of lignite, hard coal, gas and oil together each year, in GW. The last point is the latest 365 days.
4The dark lulls got shorter
Longest wind and solar lull each year
The longest spell each year with wind and solar together under 10 GW, in hours. The last bar is the latest 365 days.
5Winter evenings are imported now
Who covers the tightest fifty hours
Average supply in the fifty hours of each year with the most demand left after wind and solar, in GW.
About the data
Generation comes from Fraunhofer ISE's Energy-Charts, through its open API: public net electricity generation in Germany every 15 minutes since 2015, from the grid operators' and the EEX transparency data. "Public" means what is fed into the grid: it leaves out power that industry makes and uses on site, and the part of rooftop solar that homes use themselves, so solar and the total read lower than the national energy balance.
Renewables here are solar, onshore and offshore wind, hydro and biomass (with about 20 MW of geothermal). Fossil fuels are lignite, hard coal, gas, and oil with gas from coke ovens and blast furnaces. Pumped storage counts as generation when it runs, and its pumping as a separate measure. Net imports are not counted in generation.
A spell is a run of consecutive quarter hours that meet the threshold. Gaps in the data of up to an hour are bridged when the quarter hours either side qualify; longer gaps end the spell. Years run in German time.
Built by Alex, and the source code is on GitHub.
Solar here is what reached the public grid. About another fifth is used in the buildings it was made on (17 TWh in 2025, against 71 TWh fed in, Fraunhofer ISE). Installed capacity is Energy-Charts' yearly series.
Data: Energy-Charts, Fraunhofer ISE, CC BY 4.0.