Twenty-two percent of Germany’s power is generated with renewables. Solar provides close to a quarter of that

In 1991, German politicians from across the political spectrum quietly passed the Erneuerbare Energien Gesetz (renewable energy law), or EEG. It was a little-heralded measure with long-lasting consequences.
The law guaranteed small hydroelectric power generators — mostly in Bavaria, a politically conservative area I like to think of as the Texas of Germany — a market for their electricity. The EEG required utility companies to plug all renewable power producers, down to the smallest rooftop solar panel, into the national grid and buy their power at a fixed, slightly above-market rate that guaranteed a modest return over the long term.


http://grist.org/business-technology/germanys-solar-power-success-too-much-of-a-good-thing/