Almost 40 gigawatts of solar expected to be installed in Europe in 2022

Authored by ieefa.org and submitted by A_Lone_Weirdo

Nearly 40GW of solar PV will be rolled out across Europe by the end of the year, according to SolarPower Europe (SPE), as the continent scrambles to deploy renewables and wean itself off Russian gas.

The expectation-beating figure of more than 39GW of solar PV is a significant jump on last year’s figure of 27GW, itself a decade-long installation record.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the subsequent rise in energy prices it has caused, European governments have looked to accelerate renewables deployment as a means to reduce their reliance on Russian energy imports.

SPE said Russia’s “weaponisation of energy supply” has turbocharged renewables deployment in the region this year, with 39GW of additional solar PV equivalent to 4.6 BCM of Russian gas.

“Every megawatt of energy generated by solar and renewables is fewer fossil fuels we need from Russia,” said Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO of SPE. “European solar is rolling out as fast as possible in anticipation of a difficult winter.”

More: Europe to rollout nearly 40GW of solar PV by end of 2022 in record year for deployment

ReallyHadToFixThat on July 25th, 2022 at 13:49 UTC »

For reference at the time of this comment the UK grid is totalling a hair under 30GW of total demand.

marenamoo on July 25th, 2022 at 12:20 UTC »

Is this a reaction to the Russian Ukraine war and oil supply chain issues?

ThatMisterOrange on July 25th, 2022 at 10:50 UTC »

Great to hear, I'm really happy with the 5kW system on my house. The power bill went down more that 75% for the summer months ( and that is compared to last year's prices)