The Sunshot: Solar Energy in Germany

In the early 1990s, coal dominated the production of Germany’s electricity supply. Solar power wasn’t on most people’s radar, viewed as expensive and marginal. But over the past 30+ years, the combined efforts of civil society, businesses, and communities have helped bring solar energy into the mainstream. Philanthropy has worked alongside these actors to help create the conditions for the sector’s growth. Today, Germany has one of the world’s largest installed solar fleets.

How did this happen? As Germany sought new industrial growth opportunities, solar energy emerged as a promising pathway, long supported by the environmental community. Framing solar not purely as environmental policy, but as a sector that Germany could lead, created a powerful economic and political argument. However, the energy system at the time was designed around fossil fuels and nuclear power, making it tough for solar to gain traction.

As part of a wider movement supporting the energy transition, philanthropy supported local initiatives in establishing the regulatory conditions for making the wide-scale expansion of solar feasible, inspiring more private investment, speeding commercialization, and ultimately greater adoption of solar energy.

How Change Happens

Tactics and Tools Philanthropy Makes Possible

Movements and Coalitions

The Bürgerenergie—or citizen energy—movement was a diverse coalition including not only environmental groups but farmers, local businesses, municipalities, and politically diverse stakeholders, who came together to support solar energy as a means of community economic development.

Policy

Philanthropy funded analysis, legal work, and advocacy that engaged policymakers and the public as policies like the Renewable Energy Sources Act of 2000 took shape. This landmark law made revenue streams for solar operators predictable and gave preference to feeding electricity from renewable sources into the grid.

Strategic Communications

Providing everyone—journalists, decision-makers, and ordinary people—with access to clear reporting on the rapidly evolving renewable energy sector built a strong narrative that inspired public support.

Outcomes

As solar deployment expanded, costs started to fall dramatically. As a result, households, farmers, cooperatives, and municipalities became energy producers; rooftops, barns, and public buildings were turned into small power plants. Communities and local actors drove this shift, with philanthropy helping ensure they actively participated in designing this energy model rather than simply receiving it, so it was truly citizen-led. As a result, renewables are now a core part of local infrastructure, transforming solar from an abstract climate policy into tangible economic benefits. This model is being emulated, with successes elsewhere in Europe, the U.S., Australia, China, and India.

90% decrease

in solar costs globally, including in Germany, between 2000 and 2015.

40x increase

in solar capacity in Germany over the past two decades.

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