The European Union’s (EU) solar sector in 2022 has drastically improvised on the need for solar amid rising power prices with a focus on cutting its dependence on Russia for fossil fuel imports, the EU Market Outlook report said.

Solar power generation in the EU jumped by 25% year-on-year (YoY) to 208.9 GW in 2022, with the top 10 European solar markets connecting 41.4 GW of new solar capacity to their grids, up by 47% YoY.

The report further said that due to policy conditions and further technology cost reductions, the total solar fleet in the EU is projected to reach 920 GW under a medium scenario and 1,184 GW under a high scenario by 2030. Both scenarios surpass the 750 GW solar target set in the EU Commission’s REPowerEU strategy.

The outlook projects that Europe’s REPowerEU plan will help the continent add 53.6 GW capacity in 2023.

Top Five Markets Fuelling the European Solar Sector

Germany, Spain, and Poland are the top three markets that are expected to contribute 49% of the total solar share by 2026.

Germany emerged as the biggest solar market in Europe in 2022 by adding the highest solar capacity of 7.9 GW, followed by Spain, which added 7.5 GW.

Poland bagged the third position on the list with 4.9 GW of solar capacity addition, up 29% from 3.8 GW YoY. The growth is primarily due to more rooftop solar installations as the result of a shift from net metering to net billing since April 2022.

The Netherlands, the fourth largest GW-scale solar market in Europe, added a total of 4 GW of new capacity in 2022, up 11% from last year. The residential rooftop solar segment in the region contributed with 1.8 GW of new capacity additions, fuelled by an impactful net-metering policy.

Despite an increase in solar prices and limited land accessibility, France came in at the fifth spot on the top ten list by adding 2.7 GW of new solar capacity in 2022. The country saw a marginal 2% decrease in new capacity additions compared to 2021, when its total installed solar photovoltaic capacity reached the 13.07 GW mark.

Adding 2.6 GW of new solar capacity, Italy stood sixth on the list marking a YoY growth of 174%, fuelled by the high costs of power and increased adoption of solar for self-consumption.

The utility-scale segment witnessed a strong year in Europe, with Spain surpassing 4 GW of additions for the first time since 2019. Portugal ranks seventh on the top ten list, where the solar market is set to grow by 251% to 2.5 GW this year, mainly due to increased utility-scale solar installations.

Denmark, Greece, and Sweden are the other three countries that topped the list of top ten European solar markets by cumulatively adding 6.6 GW to the total capacity in 2022.

Polysilicon production has improved, but Europe is facing a shortage of inverters. The inverter shortage is mainly due to surging prices of semiconductor chips worldwide.

Earlier this year, the European Solar Manufacturing Council released policy proposals to build extensive solar module manufacturing capacities with long-term competitiveness in Europe.