Page 459 - A Comprehensive Guide to Solar Energy Systems

472 A ComPREhEnSIVE GuIdE To SolAR EnERGy SySTEmS

The combination of these factors introduced a steep decline in the rate of installation
of solar power grid connections in Europe; falling from a high of 22 GW installed in 2011
to just 7 GW 3 years later in 2014 [1]. This naturally had a huge impact on the sector in
Europe, with numerous companies falling into bankruptcy and adding more pressure on
the perception of the stability of the solar market in Europe. A powerful group of compa­
nies had also formed in 2011, the so­called magritte Group, with a clear agenda to slow the
deployment of renewables in Europe, and solar in particular.
As mentioned earlier, the leading national market in Europe has been Germany, with
over 40 GW of solar power installed, which is more than double the second placed market,
Italy, who have just under 20 GW of installed capacity. The united Kingdom is Europe’s
next largest market, with over 11 GW installed by the end of 2016 [1]. no other markets
have over 10 GW­installed capacity in Europe. Thus three markets make up about 70% of
Europe’s installed capacity, proving that there is much more room for solar power growth in
Europe despite the slowdown in recent years. much of Central and Eastern Europe, which
has favorable solar conditions, remains virtually a virgin solar power territory. Southern
Europe also has huge potential, with Spain, Greece, and Italy all representing countries
with unfulfilled solar promise. While the rate of deployment in Europe has flagged, there
remains reason for optimism that the market can be reignited given the large number of
countries that have yet to embrace solar.
While Europe plunged into a solar slowdown, the rest of the world began to experience a
major solar boom. Asia began to awake its interest in solar power and levels of deployment
slowly began to rise. China turned its huge industrial machinery not only into serving the
then dominant European market, but also began to deploy high levels of solar power on
an annual basis. Given the availability of the technology, space, and an enormous need to
clean up air quality, solar became the power generation technology of choice. China now
has the honor of hosting the world’s largest solar park, the longyangxia dam Solar Park,
which comprises 850 mW of solar—enough to power 200 000 homes. This record site has
9
cost around 6 × 10 yuan and has been under construction since 2013 [8].
The 13th Solar Energy development Five year Plan (2016–20) was adopted by the na­
tional Energy Administration in december 2016 establishing the goal to install at least
105 GW by 2020 [9]. In 2013, China was already responsible for about 20% of global instal­
lations of solar power [1]. This grew through 2017 when China, with an installed capacity
of about 40 GW in 2017 represented half of the world’s annual solar power deployment [1].
China was certainly not alone in driving the Asia Pacific regions solar power deploy­
ment. After the Fukishima disaster of 2011 in Japan, the government decided to move to
less volatile energy sources to supply its electricity needs. This meant a major investment
in solar power, and the government duly went about setting up support schemes and pro­
visions for solar power to grow in Japan [10]. The fruit of this labor saw solar deployment
move rapidly into double­digit growth, with around 10 GW of installation annually from
2012 through 2016 [1]. This has made Japan one of the leading solar power markets in the
world with an installed capacity of 11% of the global total.