In 2017, the installed capacity of new PV in Europe increased by 31% to 9.2GW. After a few years of downturn, the European market once again ushered in strong growth. This round of decline began in 2012 and bottomed out in 2016.
Turkey's PV market is growing strongly. In 2016, Turkey added only 584MW of PV installed capacity. In 2017, it increased by nearly 4.5 times compared with 2016, reaching 2.6GW. According to TEIAS data, Turkey's total installed capacity of photovoltaics reached 3.4 GW in 2017. If there is no Turkey, the European market actually fell by 6%. But in a strict sense, Turkey is not a purely European country (Turkey is across Asia and Europe).
In 2017, Germany ranked second in the European market. The newly installed PV installed capacity was 1.8GW, an increase of 15%. In 2016, the new installed capacity was 1.52GW, and in 2015 it was 1.45GW. Despite the good results in Germany, it still did not reach the goal of 2.5GW per year.
The UK started a steep decline as the government cut back on PV support in 2016. After March 2017, the UK maintained a monthly installed capacity of around 20MW for most of the month, with an annual installed capacity of only 954MW, while installed capacity in 2016 was 2.1GW, down 50%. Compared with 4.2 GW in 2015, PV installed capacity in 2016 decreased by 52%.
The French market installed only 559MW in 2016, and increased by 56% in 2017, reaching 873MW, but it still has not reached the level of 895MW installed in 2015.
The Netherlands is the only country in the traditional European market with an installed capacity of more than 500 MW in 2017, which actually increased by 54% to 770 MW. The new installed capacity is mainly from rooftop photovoltaic projects.
Spain's PV installations have tripled to 135 MW, but the volume is still small.
Overall, compared with 2016, 21 of the 28 EU countries in 2017 have seen an increase in new PV installations. If it were not for the UK, the remaining 27 PV installations in the EU increased by 29% in 2017. In two countries that Europe has to mention, Germany's PV installed capacity accounted for 37.7% and Italy's 17%.
European PV 2018-2022 Outlook