It said that similar to previous years, this shows the EU's dominance in this field, where more than three quarters of the world's new PV modules were installed. It added that by the end of last year, Europe's cumulative installed PV electricity generation capacity – both existing and newly installed – was 16 GW, which is about 70 percent of the world's total (22GW).
The institute went on to explain that around one GW of PV electricity generation capacity provides enough electricity for about 250,000 European households during one year. In the EU in 2009, it said, 27.5 GW of new power capacity was constructed. About 21 percent (5.8 GW, up from 5.1 GW in 2008) of this was PV based, it explained.
Most of the EUs growth that year occurred in Germany (3.8 GW, reaching a cumulative value of 9.8 GW), and in the fourth quarter, some 2.3 GW were connected to the grid. In fact, said the institut, "Germany ranks first in the world for cumulative installed capacity (9.8 GW), followed by Spain (3.5 GW), thanks to the renewable energy legislation in these countries."
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Becky Beetz
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