“Europe will remember 2022 as the year when the solar age truly began,” predicts SolarPower Europe at the beginning of the annual report. And this year’s strong results are just the beginning: “We are confident that further annual industry growth will exceed all expectations, going beyond 50 gigawatts of new capacity in 2023 and reaching 85 gigawatts in 2026.”
According to the report, Germany leads again in installations, with a growth of almost 8 PV gigawatts in 2022. Followed by Spain (7.5), Poland (4.9), the Netherlands (4) and France (2 ,7). In Italy, on the other hand, renewables are still proceeding with the brakes on. Especially wind, which failed to install half a gigawatt of new capacity last year.
In 2022, according to data provided by Anev, just 456 megawatts of new wind power were installed, bringing the total power to 11.7 gigawatts. Solar outperformed wind and posted a 2.6 gigawatt increase in 2022, surpassing the 1 gigawatt annual threshold for the first time since 2014, when the Italian PV market stalled in the face of uncertainty legislation and the difficulty of obtaining authorisations.
Italy grows in the solar sector
But still not enough. Last year, Italian solar power finally got back on track and Italy reached sixth place in the European rankings, but the country of the sun could do more: to reach the European targets, the rate of installations must at least be doubled. The report highlights how the small-scale photovoltaic segment has driven growth, thanks to the favorable Superbonus 110% scheme and high electricity prices which have improved the attractiveness of the self-consumption business model.
In this context, the association foresees good prospects for solar energy in Italy. From 2023 to 2026, the country could install from a minimum of 16.4 gigawatts (in the more contained scenario) to a maximum of 34 gigawatts in the more ambitious scenario. If Italy achieved the goal of installing the 85 gigawatt renewables envisaged by the RePowerEU plan by 2030, it would be able to reach 84% of clean energy in the electricity production mix (from the current 36%), with a series of environmental and economic repercussions, which Elettricità Futura has quantified.