The European Union is set to add 69GW of solar and wind capacity in 2023, an increase of 17 percent year on year, according to the latest report describing the progress of the REPowerEU initiative one year after its launch. The EU report cites statistics from Eurostat and solar power in Europe, which indicate that the total capacity of solar and wind power in 2022 is 56GW, of which 41GW is solar. Previously, Solar Power Europe estimated that solar installed capacity could grow to 54GW in 2023 and reach 68GW, an increase from 31.7%-65.8%.

The new increment in 2023 equates to savings of 13 billion cubic meters of gas equivalent per year.

The study also looked at each member state of the European Union. Germany, for example, installed about 9.8GW of renewable generation capacity in 2022, bringing the total to 148GW from 138GW in 2021. Of the installation figures in Germany, 7.1GW is new solar PV, up from 5.7GW in 2021.

The Netherlands also saw a significant increase in new renewable energy sources. In 2022, it installed 9.24GW of renewable energy capacity, bringing the total to 32.83GW. Of the new installed capacity, 8GW was solar, up from 4GW in 2021. At the same time, Spain installed about 5.9 GW of renewable energy capacity, bringing the total to 67.9 GW in 2022. Spain installed 4.5GW of solar capacity last year, up from 3.6GW in 2021.

Poland has become one of the largest solar PV markets in Europe. In 2022, it installed about 4.7GW of renewable energy capacity, bringing the total to 21.2GW. Of the installed capacity, 3.7GW is solar capacity, up from 3.4GW in 2021.Editor/XingWentao