The EU will add 69GW of solar and wind capacity in 2023, representing a 17% increase year-on-year according to the latest report presenting the REPowerEU plan’s progress one year after its launch.
The EU report cited statistics from Eurostat and Solar Power Europe, which indicated that the combined capacity of solar and wind in 2022 was 56GW, of this 41GW was solar. Previously, PV Tech reported that Solar Power Europe had estimated that the installed solar capacity could grow to 54GW in 2023 (medium scenario) and to up to 68GW (high scenario), representing an increase from 31.7%-65.8%.
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The additions in 2023 equates to an annual saving of 13 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas equivalent.
The study also examined every member state of the EU. For example, Germany installed about 9.8GW of renewable energy generation capacity in 2022, bringing the total to 148GW, up from 138GW in 2021. Of that installation figure for Germany, 7.1GW was new solar PV, increasing from 5.7GW in 2021.
The Netherlands also saw significant increase in its renewables additions. Last year, it installed 9.24GW of renewable capacity, bringing the total to 32.83GW. Of the newly installed capacity, 8GW was solar, up from 4GW in 2021.
Meanwhile Spain installed around 5.9 GW of renewable capacity, bringing the total to 67.9 GW in 2022. Spain installed 4.5GW of solar capacity last year, increasing from 3.6GW in 2021.
Poland has seen a rise towards becoming one of the largest solar PV markets in Europe as reported by PV Tech Premium. Last year, it installed about 4.7GW of renewable energy capacity, bringing the total to 21.2GW. Of the installed capacity, 3.7GW was solar capacity, up from 3.4GW in 2021.
