Europe's utility-scale solar market shows decline in 2023

The EU rooftop solar market grew by 54% year-on-year, particularly amongst commercial and industrial customers, however, the market share of utility-scale declined by 6% in 2023.

This is according to SolarPower Europe’s new European Market Outlook for Solar Power 2023-2027 report.

The report suggests the slowing of the utility-scale solar market is due to delayed auctions, higher grid fees and high inflation.

Also, challenges with permitting and grid connection issues make the landscape tricky for solar developers in many regions despite EU-level legislation.

Dries Acke, policy director at SolarPower Europe said; “...the onus is back on policymakers to ensure good investment conditions for solar. We cannot accept grid connection times of more than four years, we cannot allow slow local progress on permitting, we cannot risk trade barriers slowing deployment, nor miss the chance to re-shore European solar manufacturing.”

Despite the prediction of slower growth in 2024, with the annual market set to increase by only 11%, SolarEurope's report does paint a positive picture of industry growth.

There was a 40% growth in solar installations from 2022, which saw 55.9GW of new solar capacity installed in 2023.

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The solar sector has also stood in the gap during the energy crisis, almost reaching the International Energy Agency’s recommendation to install around 60GW in 2023 to compensate for the phase out of Russian gas.

Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO of SolarPower Europe said; “Solar has continued to deliver for Europe in crisis with record-breaking installations. Now as solar hits its own turning point, Europe must deliver for solar. We are not yet installing the average 70GW annually needed to meet our 2030 solar targets. It’s clear policymakers can’t afford to be complacent for the rest of the decade.”

The report further notes that Germany is once again the top solar installer in Europe, installing 14.1GW in 2023.

Spain (8.2GW), Italy (4.8GW), Poland (4.6GW), and the Netherlands (4.1GW) follow Germany to fill the top five spots, with Czechia, Bulgaria, and Romania reaching the 1GW of solar a year milestone.

Finally, the report includes a manufacturing and supply chain update which shows less than 2% of Europe’s current demand for solar could be met with European-produced solar PV.

Inverter capacity in Europe grew by 14% from 2022 and solar cell manufacturing has grown from 1.4GW to 2GW in 2023. Polysilicon capacity took a hit due to bankruptcy and has declined by 12% since 2022 and wafers remain limited to 1.3GW capacity in 2023, with a pause in production for now.

Module manufacturing currently stands at around 14.6 GW, 59% higher than 2022.