Rooftop Solar Market

Is new module technology a versatile solution for European rooftop markets?

Solar power in the European Union has shown strong resilience in 2020 despite Coronavirus negatively impacting everyone's life in many aspects. EU members states installed 18.2 GW of solar power capacity in 2020, thus being the second-best year ever for solar in the EU, only topped by 2011, when 21.4 GW was installed.

Germany installed 4.8 GW, enough again ranking first in the EU’s PV ranking, a position it held for most of the time in the last 20 years. The new German law, adopted by the German Parliament at the end of 2020, reorganizes the support framework for distributed solar energy and includes major warnings, among others the legal requirement for national tendering for roofing projects. The new policy is more conducive to small rooftop solar, high retail electricity prices, low cost PV systems, and the EU’s recovery and resilience plan will provide financial support, so that residential rooftop solar power is expected to continue its upward trend.

Second EU market in 2020: The Netherlands added 2.8 GW of installed capacity last year. A third of new installed capacity is dedicated to domestic PV. The concept of rooftop solar systems is currently more popular than onshore wind turbines. Forecasts predict to reach around 13GW PV power over the next five years. Spain is the third largest solar market in the EU with certainly the market leader last year reaching 3.2GW. For the future, according to the Spanish National Energy and Climate Plan (PNEC), PV energy should reach around 2.8 GW per year over the next ten years.

Spain is the third largest solar market in the EU with certainly the market leader last year reaching 3.2GW. For the future, according to the Spanish National Energy and Climate Plan (PNEC), PV energy should reach around 2.8 GW per year over the next ten years.

In fourth position, Poland is one of these major European emerging markets, whether in terms of installed capacity or overall market development, the new installed capacity of 2.6 GW in 2020 is impressive. The active self-use plan put in place by the government and which allows owners to balance energy expenditure smoothed over the year. The net metering policy put in place (NEM) also allows owners to convert their excess electricity production into free electricity. Going forward, Poland will install between 9 and 11 GW of solar power by 2024, with an average annual increase of around 2 GW.