Spain has installed 5.6GW of ground-mounted capacity in 2023, up 28% from 2022, according to the country’s transmission system operator, Red Eléctrica.
By the end of 2023, Spain had over 25.5GW of installed solar PV capacity, representing 20.3% of the country’s total electricity generation.
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Nearly half of the solar PV capacity added last year came from the central region of Castilla-La Mancha, which added 2.2GW in 2023. Solar PV now represents 42.4% of all electricity generation in that region, up from the 33.3% registered in 2022.
The southern region of Andalusia added the second-most capacity, with over 1.1GW, while Extremadura closed the podium of solar PV capacity added in 2023 with over 1GW. However, the western region remains Spain’s leader in total installed solar capacity, with 6.4GW.
On top of the 5.6GW of ground-mounted capacity added in 2023, Spain installed 1.7GW of self-consumption solar capacity last year, according to data from Spanish trade association UNEF, bringing the total capacity of solar PV added in Spain in 2023 to over 7.3GW. At the end of 2023, self-consumption nearly reached 7GW of total capacity installed after a record year in 2022, with 2.5GW deployed.
The combined capacity installed of ground-mounted and self-consumption in 2023 represents nearly a tenth of Spain’s target for 2030. Last year the country updated its National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) and targets to reach 76GW of solar PV by the end of the decade.
Among the block of 27 European countries, Spain’s ambition with solar PV is only outpaced by Germany (215GW) and Italy (80GW), although last December, the European Commission called on the governments to “enhance their efforts” to accelerate the energy transition, after assessing the revised NECPs of several countries.
Germany adds 1GW in February
In related capacity addition news, Germany added 1.07GW of solar PV in the second month of 2024, according to the latest data from the German Federal Network Agency, Bundesnetzagentur. This represents an increase of over 100MW compared to February 2023.
Moreover, this is the twelve month in a row in which Germany added over a gigawatt of solar PV capacity, despite February decreasing the numbers from the previous month, as shown in the graph below.
So far this year, Germany has installed 2.5GW of solar PV, which has brought the country’s total installed capacity to nearly 85GW. In 2023, the European country added 14GW of PV capacity, according to data from the German Solar Industry Association (BSW).
The southestern state of Bavaria added the most solar PV capacity between January and February, with 515MW, followed by the eastern state of Saxony with 430MW.
Solar PV’s growth in Germany has also been accompanied by positive news in the country’s most recent auctions, with the ground-mounted tender being 3.5 times oversubscribed. Last January the results of the auction had nearly 5.5GW of bidding capacity submitted for 1.6GW of capacity awarded.
A similar outcome resulted in a most recent tender for rooftop solar, which which saw the award of 264MW of capacity out of 378MW submitted between 194 bids. Two more rounds of rooftop solar auctions are expected to be held this year.
PV Tech publisher Solar Media will be organising the 12th annual edition of Large Scale Solar Europe in Lisbon, Portugal, 26-27 March. The event will explore the solar manufacturing future in Europe, with panels on several markets, including Italy, Ireland and Czechia as well as permitting and planning bottlenecks, among others. More information, including how to attend, can be read here.
