24 September 2012 (European Commission)
“Europe accounted for two thirds of the world-wide newly installed photovoltaic (PV) capacity in 2011, with 18.5 GW. Its overall PV capacity totalled 52 GW. The yearly electricity produced by PV… corresponds to 2% of the EU's electricity needs…according to the 2012 Photovoltaics Status Report published today by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre…
“Over the past ten years, the PV industry grew in Europe by an average of over 40% per year and the production costs have decreased by around 60%. Underlying this progress is the EU commitment towards PV systems as a means to achieve the goal of using 20% of renewable energy by 2020…Germany, Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic, France, Belgium, and the United Kingdom are the leaders…”
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“Since 2000, world-wide, total PV production had growth rates of between 40 and 90%. The most rapid growth in annual production over the last five years was observed in Asia, where China alone accounts for more than 50% of the world's PV production. In addition, for the second year in a row, solar power was the renewable energy that attracted most investment, with a total of 98.5 billion euros world-wide, of which two thirds were concentrated in Europe.
“A challenge for the European industry in this field is China's massive investment in PV manufacturing, which has led to an economy of scale in manufacturing in that country. However, the delivery of manufacturing equipment from Europe to Asia is still beneficial as Europe still has the lead in PV research and development, thereby innovating the European PV manufacturing equipment industry…[F]uture generations of PV technologies could spring from international cooperation on eco-innovation, in partnership with Asia and the United States…”
It's something but I would like to see solar accounting for much more than 2% of total power production. Hopefully increased efficiency in the panels over the coming years will see that number rising dramatically.
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