Photovoltaics are on the rise across Europe

A look at Europe shows that solar energy is not only booming in Germany. According to the industry association Solarpower Europe, new photovoltaic systems with an output of around 16.7 gigawatts (GW) were installed there last year. Compared to 2018, this corresponds to an increase of a whopping 104 percent.

The association's figures also show that sun-drenched Spain was the front runner with 4.7 GW realized. Germany follows closely behind, reaching an impressive 4.0 GW in 2019. Both countries have very ambitious goals. Spain wants to increase the share of renewable energy in electricity generation to 74 percent by 2030, while Germany is aiming for 65 percent.

In addition Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO of Solarpower Europe: “The solar energy in the European Union is flourishing. We have entered a new era of solar growth, in which more new solar capacity was installed in 2019 than with any other power generation technology. This installation boom shows that solar energy in Europe is on the right track, and with a courageous climate work by the new Commission, solar energy can help to make the European Green Deal reality ”.

Aurélie Beauvais, Policy Director of Solarpower Europe, added: “There are several reasons that explain the growth of solar energy in Europe. First and foremost, the increased demand can be attributed to the cost competitiveness of solar energy - it is often the cheapest source of electricity - as well as the upcoming period until the Member States must achieve their binding national goals for renewable energies by 2020. The EU countries have also started to prepare for their way to comply with the Commission Clean Energy Package, which sets a goal of 32% of renewable energies by 2030, with many national governments increasingly relying on inexpensive solar systems in order to achieve their goals ”.

In 2019, Spain was the largest solar market in Europe with an expansion of 4.7 GW. Spain has not achieved this feat since 2008. The main solar markets for 2019 were Germany (4 GW), the Netherlands (2.5 GW), France (1.1 GW) and Poland, which almost quadrupled its installed capacity to 784 MW. This trend towards increasing solar installations was observed across the EU: 26 of the 28 member states installed more solar systems in 2019 than in the previous year. By the end of 2019, the EU will have a total of 131.9 GW, an increase of 14% compared to last year's 115.2 GW.

Michael Schmela, Executive Advisor and Head of Market Intelligence area at Solarpower Europe, said: “Since solar energy among EU citizens is the most popular and versatile energy source and the price reductions are only at the beginning of a long upward trend for solar energy in Europe. As for the medium -term projections, we expect the EU to grow by 26% in 2020, which will increase demand to 21 GW, and the systems are on the best way to reach 21 GW in 2021. The record year is expected to be in 2022, with an expected all -time high of 24.3 GW of installations, and again in 2023 with 26.8 GW newly installed solar capacity. The coming years are really phenomenal for solar development in Europe ”.