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Solar power in the European Union

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Map of solar electricity potential in Europe

Solar power in the European Union

Solar power consists of photovoltaic and solar thermal power.

Photovoltaic solar power

Main article: Photovoltaics
Photovoltaic cells in use on top of a building in Berlin.
PV in Europe(MWp)[1]
No Country 2006 2005
1 Germany 3,063 1,910
2 Spain 118.1 57.6
3 Italy 57.9 46.3
4 Netherlands 51.2 50.8
5 France 32.7 26.3
6 Austria 29.0 24.0
7 Luxembourg 23.6 23.6
8 UK 13.6 10.9
9 Greece 6.7 5.4
10 Sweden 4.9 4.2
11 Belgium 4.2 2.1
12 Finland 4.1 4.0
13 Portugal 3.5 3.0
14 Denmark 2.9 2.7
15 Cyprus 1.0 0.5
16 Czech Rep. 0.8 0.5
17 Poland 0.4 0.3
18 Slovenia 0.4 0.2
19 Ireland 0.3 0.3
20 Hungary 0.2 0.2
21 Slovakia 0.1 0.1
22 Malta 0.1 0.1
23 Lithuania 0.1 0.1
EU27 GWp 3.42 2.17

The need for the strategic development of photovoltaic systems in the EU has led to the creation of PV-NET, a network that gathers representatives from all the sectors of the research and development community concerned with the photovoltaic solar energy industry (see solar cell). The network promotes communication between speakers through the organisation of specialised conferences, workshops and congresses.

This interaction has led to the editing of a waybill, finished in 2003 with the aim of providing a solid basis for EU leaders and European citizens to base their decisions and policy making and in order to help reach the objective set by the European Commission to multiply the use of photovoltaic systems by thirty times by 2010.

In 2002, the world production of photovoltaic modules surpassed 550 MW, of which more than the 50% was produced in the EU. At the end of 2004, 79% of all European capacity was in Germany, where 794 MWp had been installed. The European Commission anticipates that Germany may have installed around 4,500 MWp by 2010 [2].

Portugal has the largest photovoltaic power station in the world[3], which was completed in January 2007. The complex, called Serpa solar power plant, covers an area of 60-hectare. The 11-megawatt solar power plant will produce enough electricity for 8,000 homes and save more than 30,000 tons a year in greenhouse gas emissions. Near from there, Moura photovoltaic power station is under construction, which will be even bigger with an installed capacity of 62MWp. The first phase of construction should be finished in 2008, while the project completion is scheduled for 2010.

Solar thermal

Main article: Solar heating

Solar heating is the usage of solar energy to provide space or water heating. Worldwide the use was 88 GWthermal (2005). Growth potential is enormous. At present the EU is second after China in the installations. If all EU countries used solar thermal as enthusiastically as the Austrians, the EU’s installed capacity would already be 91 GWth (130 million m2 today, far beyond the target of 100 million m2 by 2010, set by the White Paper in 1997. In 2005 solar heating in the EU was equivalent to more than 686,000 tons of oil. ESTIF’s minimum target is to produce solar heating equivalent to 5,600,000 tons of oil (2020). A more ambitious, but feasible, target is 73 millions tons of oil per year (2020) – a lorry row spanning 1,5 times around the globe.[4]

Solar heating in Europe* (kWth)[5]
Land Total
kWth 		2006 2005 2004
Germany 5 637 800 1 050 000 665 000 525 000
Greece 2 301 040 168 000 154 350 150 500
Austria 1 828 139 204 868 163 429 127 816
Italy 598 661 130 200 88 941 68 417
Spain 491 516 122 500 74 760 63 000
France 430 920 154 000 85 050 36 400
Cyprus 392 140 42 000 35 000 21 000
Switzerland 310 484 36 304 27 392 21 812
Denmark 253 596 17 710 14 875 14 000
Netherlands 222 909 10 280 14 174 18 410
UK 175 644 37 800 19 600 17 500
Sweden 165 850 19 977 15 835 14 041
Portugal 126 665 14 000 11 200 7 000
Poland 117 264 28 980 19 390 20 230
Slovenia 76 510 4 830 3 360 1 260
Czech Republic 74 711 15 421 10 885 8 575
Belgium 72 883 24 945 14 164 10 290
Slovakia 50 925 5 950 5 250 3 850
Romania 48 370 280 280 280
Bulgaria 17 570 1 540 1 400 1 260
Malta 16 702 3 150 2 800 2 951
Finland 11 545 2 380 1 668 1 141
Luxembourg 11 130 1 750 1 330 1 190
Ireland 11 053 3 500 2 450 1 400
Hungary 4 375 700 700 1 050
Latvia 2 695 840 700 350
Lithuania 1 925 420 350 350
Estonia 784 210 175 175
EU27+CH
GWth 		13.45 2.10 1.43 1.14
* = The relation between collector area and capacity: m2 = 0.7 kWthermal


Organizations

The European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) is the world's largest industry association devoted to the solar electricity market. The association aims to promote photovoltaics at the national, European and worldwide levels [6].

EPIA organizes the International Thin Film Conference [7].

See also

References

  1. ^ Photovoltaic energy barometer 2007 - EurObserv’ER Systèmes solaires Le journal des énergies renouvelables n° 178, s. 49-70, 4/2007
  2. ^ http://ec.europa.eu/energy/res/sectors/photovoltaic_en.htm
  3. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5056012.stm
  4. ^ Solar Thermal Action Plan for Europe ESTIF, 1/2007
  5. ^ Solar Thermal Markets in Europe, Trends and market statistics 2006 European Solar Thermal Industry Federation ESTIF, June 2007
  6. ^ http://www.epia.org/index.php?id=4
  7. ^ http://www.thinfilmconference.org
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