According to a recent forecast by the European Solar Energy Industry Association, EU solar power installed capacity growth may slow down by 24% in 2024 and 23% in 2025 due to weak wholesale electricity prices and problems with license acquisition and grid connection.
The EU's goal is to reach 600GW of solar installed capacity by 2030, which requires a significant acceleration in deployment to achieve the transition to non-fossil energy.
SolarPower Europe said in a market outlook that the 27-member group will increase its solar power generation scale by 27% to 263GW by 2023.
Talking about 2022 and early 2023, the report said that due to the Russo-Ukrainian war, "surges in electricity and gas prices and concerns about energy supply disruptions have led to serious energy security issues and put solar energy into a new perspective." , "(But) residential solar photovoltaic (PV) demand slows in the second half of 2023."
SolarPower Europe blames sharp weakness in wholesale power prices and rising inflation on the slowdown as they take the urgency out of energy security concerns while raising costs for local equipment manufacturers.
Solar energy systems range from individual rooftop installations to consumption in commercial and industrial plants and ground-mounted large utility plants.
SolarPower Europe said that new installed capacity in the EU will total 56GW in 2023, an increase of 40% from 2022, setting a new record for the third consecutive year.
The preliminary data is based on its ongoing monitoring of capacity and market conditions and will be finalized in the first half of 2024.
Germany tops the list with 14GW of installed capacity, followed by Spain (8.2GW) and Italy (4.9GW). Germany operates a total of 82.1GW of solar power capacity