Spain, Poland, and The Netherlands all ranked well within the top ten nations that are considered contenders in the shift towards the use of solar energy as a way to meet national carbon-zero goals.
According to the most recent rankings issued by SolarPower Europe, Spain currently ranks fifth globally, while Poland stands in eight place and The Netherlands are in ninth. Other European nations that are considered rising solar contenders are Italy, France, Denmark, Hungary, Greece, and Austria.
Poland, in particular, was lauded by officials as solar development within the country has gone way beyond experts’ predictions. This is mostly due to the way smaller rooftop “prosumer” systems have gained wider acceptance over the past year. These systems also offer rewards to Polish homeowners that produce as well as consume energy within their homes.
A Good Year for Solar Power
According to the SolarPower Europe report, the installation of solar panels on rooftops went up by 49% across the globe over the past year. As a result, this increase of around 118 gigawatts to the global solar power supply was enough to power an additional 36 million households.
Solar power has since grown by around 45%, hitting a generated total of 1.2 terawatts of power. By the end of the year, experts project solar power to generate at least 1,612 terawatt hours (TWh) of power, approximately 57% of the total energy demand of the EU.
Current Challenges
That, however, does not mean that the adoption of solar power worldwide has become more widespread – and there are several valid reasons for that.
For one thing, 20 of the 26 leading solar-powered nations complain that grid bottlenecks remain an obstacle to the wider adoption of renewable power sources. As such, limits in grid capacity paired with a lack of storage facilities within countrywide power systems severely hamper the shift to solar power to a wider scope.
To date, experts point out that in order to install massive solar facilities that can be used 24/7, major upgrades need to be made on national power systems, particularly where infrastructure is concerned.
