Europe to rollout nearly 40GW of solar PV by end of 2022 in record year for deployment

• Almost 40GW of solar PV will certainly be rolled out throughout Europe by the end of the year, according to SolarPower Europe (SPE), as the continent scrambles to release renewables as well as wean itself off Russian gas.

The expectation-beating figure of greater than 39GW of solar PV is a significant jump on last year's figure of 27GW, itself a decade-long setup record.

Complying with Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and also the succeeding rise in power rates it has created, European federal governments have sought to accelerate renewables deployment as a means to lower their reliance on Russian energy imports.

SPE said Russia's "weaponisation of energy supply" has turbocharged renewables deployment in the area this year, with 39GW of added solar PV equivalent to 4.6 BCM of Russian gas.

" Every megawatt of energy produced by solar and also renewables is fewer fossil fuels we require from Russia," said Walburga Hemetsberger, Chief Executive Officer of SPE. "European solar is rolling out as fast as possible in anticipation of a challenging winter."

On 18 May, and in feedback to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the EU revealed its upgraded EU Solar Energy Strategy as part of its overall REPowerEU programme, which is targeting 400GW of solar PV by 2025 as well as almost 740GW by 2030. PV Tech has discovered what REPowerEU means for European solar in among our Insights webinar series, which you can view for free below.

The European Compensation (EC) has defined solar PV as the "authority of this initiative" however experts Timber Mackenzie just recently alerted the modern technology's contribution was in risk from high basic material costs, logistical challenges and also climbing module costs.

In addition to this, Dries Acke, policy supervisor at SPE, said "an actual obstacle the industry is encountering is a critical abilities shortage", which could "risk not having the variety of installers and also job designers that we need".

"This can not be ignored in critical planning for European power security," he added.

However, today's figures will certainly rate by European leaders and also the solar industry alike but Acke warned that such activity on renewables is required "for this winter, and also every winter that complies with".

Moving beyond REPowerEU, PV Tech has actually checked out just how Europe can exceed as well as past the 740GWdc solar target set within the strategy, with lots of stakeholders calling for 1TW by 2030 rather.

On the other hand, the EC has actually recommended policy that sets a voluntary target to minimize gas need by 15% by 31 March 2023 and is going after the technique of joint gas acquiring to decrease expenses. The 'Save Gas for a Safe Winter' plan would certainly additionally provide the EC the possibility to proclaim a mandatory gas demand reduction following assessment with member states using a 'Union Alert' on safety of supply.