Who are the good solar students in Europe?

1.04 kWp of installed photovoltaic power per capita is the colossal score of the leading nation in Europe 🇪🇺 in terms of the ratio of total installed power to its population.

But which country is this?

It is not Germany, nor Spain, and even less Italy or France, which is crowned with this first place, no!

It is indeed the Netherlands 🇳🇱, the first European nation in history to cross the 1000 Watt threshold, far ahead of Germany 🇩🇪 (0.816 kWp/capita). The podium is completed by a no less surprising country, namely Denmark 🇩🇰, which achieves the very respectable ratio of 0.675 kWp/inhabitant.

Concretely, being an annual multi-megawatt market is not necessarily synonymous with performance and voluntarism, far from it. It is edifying to note that among the 10 largest European markets in terms of total annual installed capacity, only 6 are in the top 10 in terms of the "cumulative power/inhabitant" ratio.

As proof, France 🇫🇷, the 5th largest European market in 2022 in terms of installed power, has a low ratio of 0.237 kWp/inhabitant, far from the continental top 10 (it is 19th in this case). It must be said that in 2022, our country achieved a disappointing score of 2.7 GWp installed, slightly down from the 2.8 GWp in 2021.

A disappointment that is all the greater if we compare this figure to some of our European neighbors: Portugal achieved an almost identical score (2.5 GWp) despite its surface area almost 7 times smaller and a population 6 times smaller than that of France. And the most remarkable thing about the 2022 results once again concerns the Netherlands, which, by installing 4 GWp, has shown what the path to follow is and what the level of French ambitions should be.

If we achieve the objectives defined by the state by 2030, i.e. a target of 40 GWp, we will present a ratio of 0.6 kWp/inhabitant, below the 0.758 kWp/inhabitant that characterizes the European average that will prevail at the same time.

In this scenario, France will occupy a poor 14th place, which the entire profession and civil society will not be able to be satisfied with.

The revision of the Multiannual Energy Program 2024-2033, which is beginning and which must be enacted before July 1 of this year, will constitute an absolutely major turning point for the sector: it is imperative that the Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Territories and the state substantially raise the French objectives in terms of installed photovoltaic power for 2030. The figure of 70 GWp, however significant it may be, is in no way illusory.

The entire French industry is ready to take on what is no longer a challenge, but an absolute necessity!