Benefiting from record energy prices and a tense geopolitical situation, Europe’s solar power industry has received a rapid boost in 2022 and is poised for a record year.
      According to a new report, “European Solar Market Outlook 2022-2026,” released December 19 by industry group SolarPower Europe, new PV capacity installed in the EU is expected to reach 41.4GW in 2022, up 47% year-over-year from 28.1GW in 2021, and is expected to double by 2026 to an expected 484GW. The 41.4GW of new installed capacity is equivalent to powering 12.4 million European households and replacing 4.45 billion cubic meters (4.45bcm) of natural gas, or 102 LNG tankers.
      The total installed solar power capacity in the EU also increases by 25% to 208.9 GW in 2022, up from 167.5 GW in 2021. Specific to the country, the most new installations in the EU countries is still the old PV player – Germany, which is expected to add 7.9GW in 2022; followed by Spain with 7.5GW of new installations; Poland ranks third with 4.9GW of new installations, the Netherlands with 4GW of new installations and France with 2.7GW of new installations.
      Specifically, the rapid growth of photovoltaic installations in Germany is due to the high price of fossil energy so that renewable energy is becoming more cost-effective. In Spain, the increase in new installations is attributed to the growth of household PV. Poland’s switch from net metering to net billing in April 2022, combined with high electricity prices and a fast-growing utility-scale segment, contributed to its strong third-place performance. Portugal joined the GW club for the first time, thanks to an impressive 251% CAGR, largely due to significant growth in utility-scale solar.
      Notably, SolarPower Europe said that for the first time, the top 10 countries in Europe for new installations have all become GW-rated markets, with other member countries also achieving good growth in new installations.
      Looking ahead, SolarPower Europe expects that the EU PV market is expected to maintain high growth, according to its “most likely” average path, the EU PV installed capacity is expected to exceed 50GW in 2023, reaching 67.8GW under the optimistic forecast scenario, which means that on the basis of the 47% year-on-year growth in 2022, it is expected to grow by 60% in 2023. . SolarPower Europe’s “low scenario” sees 66.7GW of installed PV capacity per year through 2026, while its “high scenario” sees nearly 120GW of solar energy expected to be connected to the grid each year in the second half of the decade.