The European Solar Market witnessed strong growth in 2020, despite stringent challenges stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. Impressively, demand for solar power in Europe surprisingly increased in 2020, resulting in the European Union (EU) member states having installed 18.2 GW of solar power capacity, reflecting an 11% improvement from 2019’s level.
Thus, solar companies across the globe must be eyeing the European solar energy market as highly prospective, which is likely to result in increased installations in 2021.
Key Catalysts Driving Solar Market in the EU
The primary reason for solar power growth in the EU is the solar industry’s cost competitiveness. As the cost of solar energy equipment is at an all-time low and installation costs for solar panels are dropping significantly, demand for solar power is on the rise.
Moreover, in recent times, the EU has been adopting key measures to boost solar power. These include cost-reduction initiatives for utility-scale solar, accelerating the clean energy transition by decarbonizing the power sector, favorable policies supporting solar growth along with others, thereby making solar technologies more accessible to consumers. This is slowly getting accomplished through the
clean energy for all Europeans package
, which sets a 32% renewables target by 2030.
What’s Ahead for the European Solar Market?
In Europe, 20% of the electricity demand will be powered by solar energy by 2030. Per a Solar Power Europe report, the EU could witness solar power installations of 22.4 GW in 2021. Further, installations of 28.2 GW are expected to be added in 2022 and exceed the 30-GW level in 2023. Overall, the European solar market is anticipated to add 129.2 GW of total capacity within this period.
Interestingly, in 2021, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland and France are projected to be the EU’s top five solar markets.
Stocks Poised for Growth in 2021
Let’s take a brief look at a few solar companies that have already carved out a place in the European solar market and are, thus, expected to expand footprint in 2021 and beyond. Considering the market’s abounding growth prospects, these solar stocks are poised to benefit significantly.
In May 2021,
Canadian Solar Inc
.
CSIQ
entered a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with Axpo Italia, which will enable the latter to buy electricity worth 12 megawatt-peak (MWp) from two solar plants in Italy. This will be beneficial for Canadian Solar’s market growth in Europe, as its high-efficiency modules will be installed in these two facilities, which boast an estimated annual production of approximately 22 gigawatt-per-hour (GWh).
Also, during May,
ReneSola Ltd
SOL
and Eiffel Investment Group signed a solar development joint venture (JV) agreement to accelerate solar development in Europe. The joint venture will fund the development of up to 700 MW of solar projects in the next three years across Europe.
In April 2021,
Enphase Energy Inc
.
ENPH
announced the expansion of its Enphase Installer Network (EIN) in Europe, by launching the network in the Netherlands and Belgium. Going forward in 2021, the company plans to expand the network to other European nations as well. Prior to this expansion, Enphase Energy in September 2020 entered strategic partnerships with three solar distribution companies in Belgium and the Netherlands to distribute the Enphase IQ 7 family of microinverters to residential installers across both nations.
In September 2020,
First Solar
‘s
FSLR
advanced Series 6 photovoltaic (PV) solar modules were selected by JP Energie Environnement (JPee) to power its 59-megawatt (MW)DC Labarde solar power plant, the largest urban photovoltaic power plant in France. First Solar’s growing footprint in Europe, especially France, is evident from the rising demand for its advanced module thin-film technology in the region.
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