Germany’s solar industry association, BSW Solar, has condemned the German government for its stance on PV, claiming that in the first five months of this year the country only installed 818MW of new PV generation capacity.

BSW Solar said in a statement published in German on its website that if the rate of new installations continues at the current pace, the German government will miss its renewable energy targets for this year.

Compared to the same period last year, the amount of newly installed capacity has apparently dropped by 45%. BSW Solar says that at that rate, Germany will miss even the lower limit of the ‘target bandwidth’ the nation has set itself. Recently altered renewable energy targets allowed for the country to stay on track if it managed to install between 2.5GW and 3.5GW of PV in the year.

BSW Solar's spokesman David Wedepohl confirmed to PV Tech via email the association's fears that "with the current law, the German government will be unable to reach its self set goal for 2.5GW to 3.5GW of newly installed PV capacity in 2014".

Since the beginning of 2012, BSW Solar claims system prices have fallen in Germany by 25%. Yet between 2012 and 2013 it says, demand for PV dropped by 60%, followed by the similarly poor showing recently between January and May.

The ‘bandwidth’ targets have been roundly condemned by industry groups including BSW Solar and renewable energy association BEE when they were proposed late last year. The targets extend to 2035 and allow for Germany to aim to be generating between 55% and 60% of its energy from renewable sources.

Also condemned were plans to levy charges for self-consumption onto residential PV system owners, while some heavy industries will seek exemption from those same charges for economic reasons.