This report analyses how much open space, in particular agricultural land, is utilized by photovoltaic plants which have been awarded the right to be subsidized within the framework of the Renewable Energies Act 2017. The research is based on individual data of successful bids in twelve tendering rounds from 2015 to 2018. Additionally, data of all plants which have been put into operation until November 2018 are analysed. This is a follow-up report of the reporting years 2016 and 2017. As a result from three tendering rounds in 2018, 807 hectares open space are expected to be utilized. Thereof, 449 hectares are presumably agricultural land. However, successful bids are often transferred to other locations than stated in the bids. Thus, estimating the utilization of agricultural land with the help of tendering data involves great uncertainties. It is therefore recommended to test the use of remote-sensing data in order to gain more significant results on the actual utilization of agricultural land.
