On December 17, 2024, SolarPower Europe, the European solar association, presented the latest photovoltaics (PV) trends and market figures for Europe. Once again, the market grew faster than ever in 2024, with annual deployment increasing by four percent to 65.5 gigawatts (GW). The growth rate has normalized in comparison with previous years, when the market nearly doubled for three consecutive years, growing between 41 to 53 percent.
According to the industry association, PV remains a driver of the energy transition and an up-and-coming sector. However, to guarantee a sustainable growth in Europe, some systemic issues in PV integration need to be resolved.
The 2024 EU ranking is once more led by Germany with 16.1 GW of installed capacity, followed by Spain (9.3 GW), Italy (6.4 GW), France (4.7 GW), and Poland (4.2 GW). The Netherlands ranked sixth with 3 GW, Austria eighth with 2.5 GW and Hungary ninth with 2.0 GW. Greece with 2.9 GW and Portugal with 2.0 GW installed capacity were new to the European top ten in 2024. Despite significant deployment rates at gigawatt level, market growth declined year-over-year in five of the top ten countries (Spain, Poland, the Netherlands, Austria and Hungary). SolarPower Europe attributes this to the lack of a stable regulatory framework.
Why has the market stabilized after the exponential growth in previous years? On one hand, due to the normalization of fossil energy source prices, the home system segment experienced a drop in demand. Growth shrank by 5 GW compared to the previous year. The desire for self-sufficiency, spurred by the energy crisis at the beginning of the war in Ukraine, decreased among private consumers in 2024. Consequently, growth in the PV market is increasingly driven by the utility-scale segment, which now accounts for 42 percent of the market, up from 36 percent a year ago.
On the other hand, there are structural shortcomings in the European energy system that are inhibiting the full integration of solar energy – and this is also reflected in the market growth rate. According to SolarPower Europe, these issues can be resolved through increasingly flexible use, the rapid expansion of energy storage capacity, accelerated grid expansion, the intelligent use of grids and the improvement of approval processes. The electrification rate, currently stagnant at 23 percent, needs to be rapidly increased to 35 percent within 5 years.
With its latest market survey results, the association is showing the government a “yellow card”. The good news is that, in SolarPower Europe’s Medium Scenario, the expansion goal of 750 GW by 2030 set out in the REPowerEU plan is achievable. However, in order not to jeopardize the photovoltaics expansion goals, the industry needs political tailwind and support.