Intersolar Europe: Focus on home storage and grid efficiency at the trade fair

The current state of the solar energy market can be seen for yourself at the Munich exhibition center. This is where the industry trade fair "The Smarter E" is currently taking place. Part of the three-day event is Intersolar Europe –, the world's most relevant trade fair for the solar industry. More than 1400 exhibitors gather there on an area of over 100,000 m². Battery storage systems are among the most important topics this year.

At its press conference at the trade fair, the German Solar Industry Association (BSW) made it clear that it considers storage systems to be the quickest and most minimally invasive way of integrating solar energy into the market in a simple and system-friendly manner. According to BSW forecasts, Germany will produce more electricity from solar energy than from lignite for the first time in 2025. In 2024, the latter was still just ahead of solar energy at 72.6 terawatt hours, generating 72.8 terawatt hours of electricity. The expansion of photovoltaics is almost on target.

The BSW therefore wants to ignite the "storage turbo" at Intersolar. It has long been calling on politicians to drastically simplify the privileged treatment of battery storage systems under building law and regulatory requirements in the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG). At the same time, the storage market is growing strongly in the first quarter of 2025. Large storage systems with a capacity of over 1000 kilowatt hours (kWh) in particular are growing strongly, as are commercial storage systems (20 to 1000 kWh) and micro-storage systems up to 5 kWh.

Home storage systems are weakening

However, one segment is clearly weakening: home storage systems with capacities between 5 and 20 kilowatt hours. Compared to the same period last year, around 0.18 gigawatt hours less capacity was added. Overall, however, home storage systems still account for the majority of installed storage systems. At 15.5 gigawatt hours, they still account for a good 80 percent of the total installed battery storage capacity (as of May 2025).

The BSW did not comment directly on the reasons for this at the press conference. Other industry associations explain this with falling energy prices, regulations in the Building Energy Act that require explanation and the weakening construction industry.

In line with this, the BSW is also reporting a clear decline of a good 20 percent in the addition of rooftop PV systems with an installed capacity of up to 30 kilowatts for the first quarter of 2025. The BSW does not want to blame this on the weakening construction sector, as the majority of PV systems are installed on existing buildings. Instead, loan interest rates play a more central role here. Of course, it should not be forgotten that the industry has had real boom years behind it and the market is now returning to a normal level. According to the association, there are now five million registered PV systems in Germany.

At the press conference, the BSW also commented on the outlook and presented its business climate index. According to this, almost 30 percent of PV companies expect business to develop significantly or rather more favorably in the next six months. However, 25 percent also expect the situation to deteriorate. This is likely to depend to a large extent on the new German government. The BSW is at least cautious in its assessment.

It welcomes the fact that, despite vague formulations, the expansion of storage facilities and grid serviceability are at least included in the coalition agreement. It does not expect a major change in direction compared to the previous coalition government and hopes that the current framework conditions will remain in place. This is what they want to work towards.

(ssi)