Peeping through the clouds: global boost in solar energy

Europe has surrendered the baton to Asia as the world’s frontrunner in photovoltaics, according to a 2013 market survey published by the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA).

Europe accounted for 70 per cent of the world’s new solar panel installations in 2011, but by last year its share of the world market fell to 28 percent.

Declining political support and changes to government incentive schemes led to declining markets in  member states including Germany, Italy, Belgium, France and Spain.

At the same time, new feed-in tariffs in China and Japan boosted the market in these countries.

Photovoltaics now supply three per cent of the electricity in Europe overall and provide six per cent of the peak electricity demand. And for the third year in a row, photovoltaics is second to wind energy in terms of new generation capacity in Europe.

As the share of renewables in the energy mix increases, grid and market/system integration challenges are becoming more and more important for future development of the market in Europe, according to EPIA.

In 2013, enough photovoltaic solar panels were installed around the world to create about 37 gigawatt hours (GW) of solar power, with one GW being enough to power around 220,000 homes.

Tinkering with incentives

Investment fatigue and some regulatory tinkering lie behind the fall in installations in Europe. Germany only installed 3.3 GW, compared to 7.6 GW in 2012, a 57 per cent decrease, while France installed 0.613 GW, down from 1.1 GW in 2012. However, other European countries increased installation of photovoltaics, with Greece, Italy, the UK and Romania all topping the 1 GW mark.

“In a number of European countries, harsh support reduction, retrospective measures and unplanned changes to regulatory frameworks that badly affect investors’ confidence and [the viability of solar] investments, have led to a significant market decrease,” said Gaëtan Masson, head of business intelligence at EPIA.

Solar has expanded strongly over the years, but these figures underline the need for continued R&D and investment in the field, amid concerns that binding national targets for renewable energy will not be renewed after 2020.

A challenge to European R&D

Under Horizon 2020, the EU’s fund for research and innovation, the topics of calls for photovoltaics research are broadly defined by challenge, for example, energy efficiency.

Research in Europe is primarily focused on reducing the cost of generating electricity with photovoltaics, by improving the efficiency of the technology. Support from the EU has been significant, with some 73 projects funded to date.

Rest of the world

Last year, China installed photovoltaics generating 11.3 GW, Japan 6.9 GW and the US 4.9 GW of photovoltaic.

In the US, more solar power has been installed in the last 18 months, than in the previous 30 years. The Department of Energy believes it could provide over a quarter of the country’s electricity needs by 2050.

For more on the photovoltaic research challenges under Horizon 2020, see the 2014-2015 work programme for “Secure, clean and efficient energy.”