Solar Europe 2023-Record Additions, Generation Seen in 2023 From Solar In Europe

That Europe added over 56 GW of solar in 2023 has already been documented. But it is the numbers  coming out from individual countries that make for interesting reading. Thus, even as powerhouses like Germany crossed 14 GW in fresh additions, smaller countries like the Czech republic made major strides as well, adding over 970 MW to the grid in 2023. A standout feature of European capacity additions is of course the strong show from residential solar installations, accounting for over 50% of new capacity in many key markets.

Germany Remains The European Leader

Germany’s high 14 GW installation figure compares with ‘just’ 7.4 GW in 2022. Taking it’s total installed solar capacity to well over 80 GW. Over 50% of the new capacity was in the residential segment, underscoring both the awareness, and the impact of rising energy prices on behaviour.  SolarPower Europe expects other European markets to put in place strong shows in 2024 as well.

That meant over 53.5TWh was fed into the public grid last year from it’s solar base of over 80GW. Solar PV systems generated about 59.9TWh of electricity in 2023, up about 1% year-on-year, according to Fraunhofer ISE. Expect this number to move up sharply in 2-24 as the impact of installations in 2023 kicks in.

According to Fraunhofer ISE 53.5TWh was fed into the public grid and 6.4TWh was used for self-consumption.

On July 7, peak generation at 40.1GW accounted for 68% of electricity generation on the day.

Overall, for all of 2023, renewables produced about 260TWh in 2023, up from the previous year’s level of 242TWh. The share of renewable energies in the electrical load was 57.1% compared to 50.2% in 2022. This made Germany the 14th among 34 European member countries, though in sheer quantum, it leads the continent.

An aspect that will probably get more attention from here on is the quantum of battery storage in large markets, where again, Germany moved from 4.4GW in 2022 to 7.6GW in 2023, a 72% spike. Overall storage capacity (GWh) rose from 6.5GWh to 11.2GWh.

Smaller Countries Warm Up To Solar Too

In contrast with a large industrial economy like Germany, smaller European countries that had hitherto been cool to solar, also took advantage of better availability and prices to make significant jumps. case in point is the Czech republic, that added  970MWp of solar capacity added to the grid. Again powered mostly by residential solar.

The 970MW figure is a 236% increase from 2022’s 289.1MWp, with the number of solar power installations increasing by 145%, from 49,000 in 2022 to 82,799 in 2023.

Even as the average size of domestic PV plants moved up to 10.3kWp in 2023 from 6.7kWp in 2022, 92% of families chose a solution combined with battery storage with an average capacity of 12kWh, up from 11.7kWh in 2022. These figures come from the Czech Solar Association.

The association adds that the total output of all solar power PV plants in Czechia last year reached almost 3.5GW. It hopes to see larger plants being installed soon, backed by the European Commission’s Modernisation Fund. The fund focuses on several areas, including the generation and use of energy from renewable sources.