Solar power generation capacity from building rooftops increased by 49% in 2022 to a total of 118 Gigawatts (GW), with Spain leading European countries among those worldwide that installed at least 1 GW in that year, according to a report released Tuesday.
China, the United States, India, Brazil, and Spain top the ranking released by the SolarPower Europe platform, which brings together several of the leading companies in the renewable solar energy sector, in a study presented in Munich (southern Germany).
The report indicates that in 2022, solar power generation capacity equivalent to 36 million homes was installed, and its authors assure that the boom in rooftop solar panel placement will continue in 2023 when another 159 GW is expected to be installed.
In 2022, the number of countries installing at least 1 GW per year in this area increased from 17 to 26. The report by the industry’s business platform forecasts that by 2025 more than 50 countries will be installing more than 1 GW of solar power each year.
According to the global ranking of countries prepared with data for 2022, after Spain came to Germany, Japan, Poland, the Netherlands, and Australia; among Europeans, Italy ranked 12th, France 13th, Denmark 16th, Greece 18th, and Austria 20th.
The study indicates that a solar power generation capacity of 1.2 Terawatts (TW) has already been installed, which will generate a combined 1,612 TW/hour during 2023, “equivalent to 57 % of the total electricity demand in the European Union”.
SolarPower Europe estimates that the future of solar power generation is “bright” and that it will reach an installed capacity of between 341 and 402 GW worldwide by 2023. It also forecasts that 1 TW of solar electric generation capacity will be installed worldwide every year by the end of this decade.
However, the authors of the report warn that there are challenges to its development, such as the limited capacity of distribution grids and the lack of flexibility or storage in national electricity systems.
This situation poses “a critical risk to the global solar transition. Of the main ‘solar’ countries, grid bottlenecks have been identified in twenty as the main obstacle to the development of solar”.
As for Spain, the report highlights that it has gained three positions in the list of countries where installed capacity grew the most since the previous year and notes that it already reached 8.4 GW in 2022.
“This represents a remarkable 76 % increase from the 4.8 GW installed the previous year. Most of the installation corresponds to the segment of PPA contracts (whereby buyers purchase energy and renewable energy certificates from a renewable energy supplier), which accounted for 5.3 GW in 2022,” the report adds.
In addition, the authors point out that the Spanish case does not rely on any subsidies, “which makes Spain one of the largest global markets for solar energy without subsidies. This trend is expected to continue as the country has updated its environmental permits for PV plants over 2 GW in early 2023.”
Last year, the rooftop panel installation segment added 3 GW of capacity, doubling in size year-on-year.
In addition to regulatory improvements, the report finds that rising electricity prices as a result of the energy crisis following the outbreak of war in Ukraine have become a strong incentive for homeowners and businesses to adopt solar.
Finally, the study predicts that the electricity price factor will be “even more relevant in 2024 when the cap on the price of natural gas for power generation ends, which is planned for the end of 2023,” although it acknowledges the fall in energy prices in European markets in the spring of 2023.
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