World passes 100 GW installed PV capacity mark

Share

With between 30 and 32 GW added globally in 2012 – roughly the same figure as was added in the 2011 boom year – Europe saw just 13 GW of newly installed photovoltaic added, down from 23 GW.

The fact annual installed capacity failed to grow to any significant extent is indicative of the troubles associated with a global oversupply of polysilicon and the trade disputes between China and the U.S., and Europe, but amid the gloom, Germany was still a world leader with 7.6 GW of solar capacity added and Italy was still the world's third largest market, with 3.3 GW.

China installed between 3.5 and 4.5 GW – EPIA expects to announce final figures in its annual report in May – to come in second behind Germany, with the U.S. fourth with 3.2 GW, Japan fifth with 2.5 GW and France sixth with 1.2 GW.

"The photovoltaic industry clearly faces challenges but the results of 2012 show there is a strong global market for our technology. Even in tough economic times and despite growing regulatory uncertainty, we have nearly managed to repeat the record year of 2011," said EPIA President Winfried Hoffmann.

He added, "The key going forward will be to address these new market challenges and continue policies that help PV technology to grow sustainably, continuing its evolution to a mainstream electricity source."

Popular content

This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.

Share

Related content

Elsewhere on pv magazine...

Leave a Reply

Please be mindful of our community standards.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.

Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.

You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.

Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.