According to data from the organization Solar Power Europe, 55.9 GW of new solar systems were installed in the European Union in 2023, equivalent to the energy consumption of 17 million households. If we compare that number with the total number of households in the 27 EU countries of 198 million, the result would be a spectacular 8.6 percent. The newly installed solar power in 2023 was sufficient to supply 1 in 12 European households.
That is a continuation of the positive trend that solar energy has been bringing for the third year consecutively. In total, 263 GW of industrial and residential solar installations have been installed in Europe so far, representing an increase of 27% compared to 2022. With these figures, Europe came close to the EIA recommendation of the necessary installation of 60 GW of solar annually to gradually compensate for the loss of Russian gas.
In the EU in 2023, households installed a new 37 GW, and industry and large solar power plants 19 GW. A year earlier, in 2022, households installed 24 GW, and industry and large systems installed 16 GW.
As in several other sectors, Germany is also in first place in total solar installed in 2023 with an impressive result of a new 14.1 GW. Spain follows it with 8.2 GW of new installations, Italy (4.8 GW), Poland (4.6 GW) and the Netherlands (4.1 GW).