On the contrary, it's far better suited to providing demand when solar is most available. It's far better than trying to fight the cold using solar. The tiny theoretical efficiency boost from lower temperatures and high sun is virtually irrelevant in comparison (and much more relevant to thermal power plant considerations).
Much of the world gets literally twice the sunlight as most of Germany and that's the annual average. When talking about the winter time, the difference can be more like a factor of 5 or more when taking into account heat needs.
I fail to see why people use northern Europe as the baseline for their solar arguments when it's clearly a cornercase, given a global perspective.
Much of the world lacks what Germany (and Europe in general) has: industry. You can supply industry using solar, because it is needed during the day mostly. Yes, the output in winter is 10x smaller, that's why we need also other power sources (at least until we have a way to store electricity effectively).
What's the purpose of solar farm in Sahara? Lack of a need for electricity (except AC, but not many there can afford it) and transferring power over long distances is not effective.
For home heating there are other energy sources, not as clean (well maybe except wind, which blows during winter also): coal, gas, oil and nuclear.
Much of the world gets literally twice the sunlight as most of Germany and that's the annual average. When talking about the winter time, the difference can be more like a factor of 5 or more when taking into account heat needs.
I fail to see why people use northern Europe as the baseline for their solar arguments when it's clearly a cornercase, given a global perspective.