According to Eurobserv’ER, the European concentrated solar power plant market is reeling, mainly due to the Spanish government placing a moratorium on renewable energy power plants.
As a result, the number of projects now under construction is a pittance compared with 2012, during an additional 802.5 MWe of capacity was recorded
The European solar thermal market is hardly any more encouraging. EurObserv’ER holds that it slipped for the fourth year in a row (it dropped 5.5 percent between 2011 and 2012). The newly-installed solar thermal collector surface area in the EU now stands at 3.4 million m2, far short of its 2008 installation record of 4.6 million m2
Besides the 2012 realisations per EU Member State other subjects that are discussed in the new barometer are:
• Selected country reviews
• Renewable energy policies
• Industry overview
• Comparison with National Renewable Energy Action Plans
For additional information on renewable energy issues (data referring to 2011, among others EU member state renewable energy employment, turnover and realisations) see also the annual EurObserv’ER publication ‘The State of Renewable Energies in Europe’, 2012 edition.
Key data for the year 2012 include:
For Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants
• Commercial Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants, end of 2011: 1960 MWe (1151 MWe end of 2011)
• Of all CSP projects more than 99% is situated in Spain
• Spanish cumulative solar CSP electricity production in 2012: 3432 GWh (1779 GWh in 2011)
For solar thermal water heaters
• Additionally installed EU-27 solar thermal surfaces (hot water) in 2012: 2377 MWth (2514 MWth in 2011)
• Cumulative installed EU-27 solar thermal surfaces (hot water) in 2012: 29633 MWth (27540 MWth in 2011)
For additional information:
Free download of the bi-lingual barometer (PDF, English/French, 27 pages, 3.6 MB)
