The European Union installed around 8.0 GW of solar power systems in 2018; that is a 36% year-on-year increase over the 5.9 GW connected to the grid in EU-28 in 2017, according to an estimate from SolarPower Europe, the association for the solar power sector in Europe. Solar installations in Europe as a whole grew by around 20% to 11.0 GW in 2018, up from 9.2 GW the year before.
Europe’s largest solar market in 2018 was Germany with 2.96 GW of new grid-connected capacity, up 68% from the 1.76 GW installed in 2017. It was followed by Turkey, the reigning European solar market from the previous year, which installed 1.64 GW in 2018, down 37% from the year before, after a decline in demand due to the financial downturn in the country. A rising solar star, the Netherlands ranked as the 3rd largest solar market in 2018. The country added around 1.4 GW compared to 0.77 GW in 2017 and is now entering the ‘solar gigawatt-club’ for the first time. This solar installation data for EU-28 and Europe is an estimate from SolarPower Europe for 2018 solar power on-grid installations and are based on official data from government agencies whenever possible. If such information was not available from primary sources, SolarPower Europe has gathered data mostly through its members, comprising of national solar associations.
As data for Q4/2018 is often not yet completely available or will be updated by national entities responsible for solar statistics in the coming months, the final installation numbers might differ from this estimate. Data for EU-28 includes all European Union member states. Data for Europe includes Belarus, Norway, Russia, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and others.
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