Photovoltaic Solar Power
In 2011, more than 69 GW were installed at the global level, producing 85 TWh of electricity every year. This energy volume is sufficient to power annually the supply needs of over 20 million households. In terms of global cumulative installed capacity, according to the latest report of the European Photovoltaic Industry Association, Europe still leads the way with more than 51 GW (i.e. about 75% of the world’s total solar photovoltaic cumulative capacity). In 2011, solar photovoltaic continued its growth trend and Italy was the top market for the year, with 9.3 GW connected, followed by Germany (7.5 GW). These two markets were followed by France (1.7 GW) and the United Kingdom (784 MW). In terms of cumulative capacity, Germany with more than 24 GW, is the leading country in Europe, followed by Italy, with more than 12 GW.
PV is now a significant part of Europe's electricity mix, producing 2% of the demand in the EU and roughly 4% of peak demand.
In 2011 the EU’s solar electricity production is evaluated as ca 44.8 TWh in 2011 with 51.4 GW installed capacity, up 98% on 2010. In 2011 in the EU new installations were 21.5 GW. The solar power share in 2011 was around 3.6% in Italy, 3.1% in Germany and 2.6% in Spain. EuroObserver expects the total installation to reach at least 120 GW in 2020. The national strategies are equivalent to 84 GW solar capacity in 2020 which may underestimate the actual development taking place. For example, according to AGEE-Stat (the Ministry of Environment’s Working Group on Renewable Energy Statistics), Germany connected solar capacity 7.5 GWp in 2011, twice the 3.5 GWp target. EU accounted for 74% of all newly connected capacity in 2011. According to Photon International magazine the worldwide solar cell production capacity was 12.5 GW in 2009 and 37 GW in 2011. In 2012, production capacities are set to rise to 69 GW, same as the total installed capacity worldwide at the end of 2011.
Denmark will reach the year 2020 government goal 200 MW in 2012 eight years in advance. Danish energy sector players estimate that this development will result in 1000 MW by 2020.
| PV in Europe (MWpeak) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Country | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 |
| 1 | Germany | 1,910 | 3,063 | 3,846 | 6,019 | 9,959 | 17,370 | 24,875 | 32,698 |
| 2 | Italy | 46 | 58 | 120 | 458 | 1,157 | 3,478 | 12,764 | 16,361 |
| 3 | Spain | 58 | 118 | 733 | 3,421 | 3,438 | 3,808 | 4,214 | 4,516 |
| 4 | France | 26 | 33 | 47 | 104 | 335 | 1,054 | 2,831 | 4,027 |
| 5 | Belgium | 2 | 4 | 22 | 71 | 574 | 787 | 1,812 | 2,649 |
| 6 | Czech Republic | 0 | 1 | 4 | 55 | 463 | 1,953 | 1,959 | 2,022 |
| 7 | United Kingdom | 11 | 14 | 19 | 23 | 30 | 75 | 1,014 | 1,657 |
| 8 | Greece | 5 | 7 | 9 | 19 | 55 | 205 | 631.3 | 1,543 |
| 9 | Bulgaria | 0.8 | 1 | 6 | 17 | 132.7 | 933 | ||
| 10 | Slovakia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.07 | 0.2 | 144 | 488.2 | 517 |
| 11 | Austria | 24 | 29 | 27 | 32 | 53 | 103 | 173.8 | 421 |
| 12 | Denmark | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 16.7 | 391 |
| 13 | Netherlands | 51 | 51 | 53 | 57 | 68 | 97 | 118.0 | 321 |
| 14 | Portugal | 3 | 4 | 18 | 68 | 102 | 131 | 143.6 | 228 |
| 15 | Slovenia | 0.2 | 0.4 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 36 | 90.4 | 217 |
| 16 | Luxembourg | 24 | 24 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 30.6 | 47 |
| 17 | Sweden | 4 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 18.7 | 23 |
| 18 | Malta | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 2 | 2 | 11.5 | 18 |
| 19 | Cyprus | 0.5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 10.1 | 17 |
| 20 | Finland | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 11.2 | 11 |
| 21 | Romania | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 2 | 2.9 | 6.4 | |
| 22 | Lithuania | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.06 | 0.07 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 6.1 |
| 23 | Hungary | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 2 | 4.1 | 3.7 |
| 24 | Poland | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1.8 | 3.4 |
| 25 | Latvia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.004 | 0.008 | 0.008 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| 26 | Ireland | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| 27 | Estonia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.01 | 0.05 | 0.08 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| EU27 (GWp) | 2.17 | 3.42 | 4.94 | 10.38 | 15.86 | 29.33 | 51.36 | 68.64 | |
| PV per capita | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| # | Country | 2011 | 2012 |
| 1 | Germany | 304.3 | 399.5 |
| 2 | Italy | 210.5 | 269.0 |
| 3 | Belgium | 165.5 | 240.0 |
| 4 | Czech Republic | 186.0 | 192.5 |
| 5 | Greece | 55.8 | 136.7 |
| 6 | Bulgaria | 17.7 | 127.4 |
| 7 | Slovenia | 44.1 | 105.7 |
| 8 | Spain | 91.3 | 97.8 |
| 9 | Slovakia | 89.8 | 95.7 |
| 10 | Luxembourg | 59.9 | 89.9 |
| 11 | Denmark | 3.0 | 70.2 |
| 12 | France | 43.5 | 61.6 |
| 13 | Austria | 20.7 | 49.9 |
| 14 | Malta | 27.4 | 45.0 |
| 15 | United Kingdom | 16.2 | 26.3 |
| 16 | Portugal | 13.5 | 21.7 |
| 17 | Cyprus | 12.5 | 19.9 |
| 18 | Netherlands | 7.1 | 19.1 |
| 19 | Sweden | 2.0 | 2.5 |
| 20 | Finland | 2.1 | 2.1 |
| 21 | Lithuania | 0.0 | 2.0 |
| 22 | Latvia | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| 23 | Hungary | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| 24 | Romania | 0.1 | 0.3 |
| 25 | Ireland | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| 26 | Estonia | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| 27 | Poland | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| EU27 (W/capita) | 102.2 | 136.3 | |
Read more about this topic: Solar Energy In The European Union
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