Europe is falling behind in solar installations, despite UK progress
April 29, 2015 | By
Jaclyn Brandt
The solar market is growing, but analysts worry that Europe is being left behind. Global solar photovoltaic (PV) installations grew to 40 gigawatts (GW) in 2014, while Europe only had a 7 GW share of that -- and a lot of it was from the United Kingdom.
According to a report by the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA), the U.K. increased installation by more than 50 percent -- from 1.5 GW in 2013 to to 2.3 GW in 2014. The United States, Japan, and China lead the global solar market, which increased 8 percent in 2014 -- to 40 GW in 2014 from 37 GW in 2013. However, that same market in Europe decreased by around 36 percent -- from 11 GW in 2013 to 7 GW in 2014. EPIA explained that regulatory issues were the main obstacle for the decreasing solar on the continent. EPIA CEO James Watson told FierceEnergy that "the problem isn't one specific regulation. To generalize it is the instability in the regulation around solar that makes it seem much more of a risk to invest in it than it actually is." Watson further explained that many countries have been working to reduce solar in their area. He said, "For example, Spain and other countries have introduced retroactive measures that significantly reduce the value of investments." But he explained that because of this, solar installation companies are looking past government incentives. The challenge has become finding private money to fill the hole. "At a time, solar power has lower cost than retail and often even commercial electricity, it is hard to understand why governments are not pushing much harder to tap the technology's potential as the European Union is looking for sustainable and secure energy supply," Watson said. The EPIA found that Germany came in second in terms of installed solar PV, with 1.9 GW, while France came in third, at 0.9 GW. While a few countries are increasing their solar installations, many are either stagnant or declining. Even more have yet to begin any progress. "The European solar companies are ready for much more, but we need a stable regulatory framework," said EPIA President Oliver Schäfer in a statement. "Solar is now a predictable source of energy -- and European policy makers simply have to understand that and design an energy system based on solar power." EPIA expects to publish their final report in June 2015. For more: © 2015 FierceMarkets, a division of Questex Media Group LLC. All rights reserved. |