World of Photovoltaics.com — 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 could power a country with the electricity demand of Austria, which corresponds to 2% of the EU’s electricity needs. These are some of the highlights of the 2012 Photovoltaics Status Report published today by the JRC.
The study summarises and evaluates the current activities regarding manufacturing, policies and market implementation world-wide.
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 in installed PV capacity in Europe.
Research Source: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/jrc/index.cfm?id=1410&dt_code=NWS&obj_id=15350&ori=RSS