FOR the second year in succession, solar power was the renewable energy that attracted the highest investment worldwide, with a total of $127.2 billion, of which two-thirds were in Europe.
According to the 2012 Photovoltaic Status Report published recently by the European Commissions Joint Research Centre, Europe accounted for 18.5 gigawatts of the photovoltaic capacity installed in 2011, taking its overall PV capacity to 52 GW. The PV industry in Europe has grown by an average of 40 per cent a year over the past 10 years and production costs have decreased by around 60 per cent, according to the report.
Germany, Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic, France, Belgium and the United Kingdom are the leaders in installed PV capacity in Europe.
The growth rates of total PV production world-wide since 2000 has varied between 40 and 90 per cent. The most rapid growth in the past five years has been in Asia, with China accounting for 50 per cent of worlds PV production.
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