German solar power output up 60 pct in 2011

* Output in Calendar Year rises to 18 billion kWh

* Industry lobby says production costs have fallen

* Intends to pursue growth course despite subsidy cuts

FRANKFURT, Dec 29 (Reuters) - German solar power producers raised electricity output in 2011 by 60 percent over 2010 to 18 billion kilowatt hours, grabbing more than 3 percent of total power output volumes, its lobby group Bundesverband Solarwirtschaft (BSW) said on Thursday.

The sector already produced enough power to supply some 5.1 million households, one eighth of all households or the entire state of Thuriniga, BSW said.

"Solar energy has become an indispensable ingredient of a successful energy strategy shift," Managing Director Carsten Koernig said in a statement.

Power from photovoltaic (PV) installations was the fastest growing segment within all German power derived from renewable sources in 2011, energy association BDEW data shows.

So-called green power in 2011 captured 19.9 percent of the power mix, compared with 16.4 percent in 2010, it said in preliminary data earlier this month, without giving production totals.

Within the fifth of total power supply accounted for by renewables, solar raised its share to 3.2 percent from 1.9 percent year-on-year, the BDEW figures showed.