Solar grows by 30% in 2017 with demand set to rise over next 5 years
SolarPow er Europe today launched the ‘Global Market Outlook for Solar Power 2018-2022.’
The report confirms that 2017 was another outstanding year for the solar sector and that growth will continue for the coming five years. The world installed 99.1 GW in 2017 and is anticipated to exceed the 100 GW level in 2018. SolarPower Europe estimates that solar is on course to add another 621.7 GW by 2022.
Christian Westermeier, President of SolarPow er Europe, said: “2017 w as another historicyear for the solar sector. More solar PV capacities w ere installed globally than any otherpow er generation technology. Solar saw more new capacity deployed than traditionalenergy generation sources combined, and added almost tw ice as much capacity as w ind.Solar is on a w inning streak and on its w ay to become the dominant energy source of the21st century”.
James Watson, CEO of SolarPow er Europe, said: “More countries are banking on solar, thisis great new s for our technology. Now is the time to make sure w e create the rightregulatory framew orks for solar and storage, and all relevant technologies and removebarriers to solar grow th. We are delighted that the European Union’s three legislativeinstitutions – the Commission, Parliament and Council – recently agreed on a 32% 2030renew ables target and empow ered citizens, companies and communities w ith the right toproduce, consume, store and sell pow er w ithout being subject to punitive taxes or excessivered tape. That’s the right direction – and w hat w e’ve been w orking tow ards.”
He added “Conversely, the solar import tariffs w e see in Europe, the US and other countriesare detrimental to the deployment of solar today and simply add unnecessary costs toconsumers and society at large. These need to go as soon as possible.”
Michael Schmela, Head of Market Intelligence at SolarPow er Europe, commented “Globalsolar market demand in 2017 w as driven by China. For the first time, China installed morethan half of the w orld’s solar capacity in only one year (53.3%). Solar’s cost-effectivenesshas attracted many countries to look seriously into this unique, flexible and distributed cleanpow er technology. While in 2016, only seven countries installed over 1 GW, in 2017, thenumber has increased to nine, and is expected to reach 14 in 2018.”
Michael Schmela further explained “Europe’s performance has improved, adding 9.2 GW in2017, a 30% increase compared to the 7 GW installed the year before. The European grow this primarily a result of Turkey’s gigantic grow th. When looking at the 28 members of theEuropean Union, there is little grow th: the EU-28 added 5.91 GW in 2017, compared to 5.89GW in 2016. This result stems from the UK’s ‘solar exit’ in 2016, w hich halved newinstallations in 2017. How ever, 21 of the 28 EU markets added more solar than the yearbefore.”
Driven by the national binding 2020 renew able targets and the recent solar tenders,SolarPow er Europe foresees that the EU w ill return to strong grow th in the coming years -w ith a 45% grow th rate expected for 2018 and 58% in 2019.
SolarPow er Europe foresees continued global solar market grow th until 2022. The GlobalMarket Outlook Medium Scenario anticipates about 3.5% market grow th to 102.6 GW newsolar PV capacity additions in 2018, despite the recent subsidy cut announcement from Chinato restructure its solar incentive programmes, w hich is expected to result in less newinstallation capacity than the year before, reaching around 39 GW in 2018.
All Global Market Outlook 2018 scenarios show stronger grow th than in the previous reporteditions. In 2017, SolarPow er Europe assumed a cumulative installed capacity of 471 GW forthe Medium Scenario in 2018, this year it forecasts 505 GW, w hich is about 7% higher.SolarPow er Europe estimates a total installed solar pow er capacity of 871 GW as the mostlikely scenario in 2021 – that’s around 13% higher than last year’s forecast.
Michael Schmela added “While in our Medium Scenario w e expect the w orld’s solar pow ergeneration capacity w ill reach the teraw att era in 2022, according to our High Scenario thislevel could already be reached a year earlier. How ever, as more and more policy leaders andinvestors are beginning to understand the benefits offered by low -cost flexible anddistributed clean solar, solar w ill undoubtedly continue to surprise us positively in the comingyears.”
Download Global Market Outlook for Solar Power 2018-2021