The European Photovoltaic Industry Association has reported that, for the first time ever, solar PV power became the most installed energy source in Europe in 2011.The increased uptake of solar power, which rose 63% to reach 21.9GW last year, has been attributed to the implementation of incentive schemes and widespread subsidization by governments.

European countries have enjoyed reduced module and panel prices in recent months and were responsible for 75% of newly installed global capacity, producing around 26TWh of solar energy. Solar power is leading the way in renewable energy production in Europe, generating more than new wind and gas projects combined, which each had 9.5GW of capacity installed in 2011.

Global PV capacity reached 29.7GW in 2011, an increase of almost 13GW (44%) of capacity when compared to the installation capacity of 16.8GW for 2010. Predictably the German and Italian PV markets led the way in Europe, together accounting for more than 60% of the installed capacity, 7.5GW and 9.3GW respectively.

via Solar power was ‘most-installed’ power in Europe in 2011, says EPIA | PV-Tech.