Europe Loses Solar Crown to China

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Europe has lost its position as the leading region for solar power projects to China, as Asia becomes the future hotspot for solar development.

Almost 11 gigawatts (GW) of photovoltaics (PV) capacity were installed in Europe in 2013, compared to 17.7 GW in 2012 and 22.4 GW in 2011. Last year, China overtook Europe with installations topping 11.8 GW.

"Europe's role as the unquestioned leader in the PV market has come to an end," concluded the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) in its "Global Market Outlook for Photovoltaics 2014-2018" report. While Europe accounted for 74% of the world's new PV installations in 2011, and around 55% in 2012, the region only represented 29% of the world's new PV installations in 2013. In 2013, growth came mainly from Asian countries, particularly China and Japan, which now rank as the first and second global markets respectively.

"The forecast for Europe in the next years should, however, be put into perspective and be considered as a stabilization towards a solid level, around 10 GW a year," explained Oliver Schäfer, EPIA president, at the launch of the report. "Europe's situation at the end of last year shows that PV, as any other energy business, remains policy-driven. A series of retrospective measures were implemented in the last years in various European countries, leading to the sharp market decrease observed in 2013. Sustainable, predictable and dynamic framework condition and policies are needed in Europe and globally to provide enough visibility to investors."

He added: "For the third year in a row, PV in 2013 was amongst the two most installed sources of electricity in the EU. PV is becoming a major part of the electricity system all over the globe, changing the way our world is powered. Policymakers and energy stakeholders should now understand that electricity grids and markets need to be adapted to fit these new realities and facilitate a cost-efficient energy transition."

Germany was the top European market last year with 3.3 GW, with several other European markets exceeding the 1-GW mark: U.K. (1.5 GW), Italy (1.4 GW), Romania (1.1 GW) and Greece (1.04 GW).

Europe might have lost pole position but last year was a record year for the global solar sector. At least 38.4 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity was installed worldwide last year - up from 30 GW in 2012. The global cumulative installed capacity now stands at 138.9 GW.

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