Monday 7 February 2011

Solar industry finds breakthrough

The global investment in solar technology is to double in size by 2015. This was according to the findings of the European Photovoltaic Industry Association.

By 2015, investment is expected to hit €70 billion, double today's levels. The cash injection means that by 2020 solar PV could account for 12% of the European demand.

Sven Teske, Senior Energy Expert at Greenpeace International said: "Solar photovoltaic is a key technology for combating climate change; our research shows that it creates 35 to 50 jobs per tonne of CO2 savings and will increase the security of energy supply by reducing dependency on energy imports to Europe."

The report also revealed that the technology has dropped by 40% in price since 2005 and it is expected to drop by the same amount by 2015.

The report estimates that current global solar PV capacity could grow from over 36 GW at the end of 2010 to close to 180 GW by 2015. European PV capacity is expected to increase from over 28 GW in 2010 to nearly 100 GW by 2015, and has the potential to reach up to 350 GW on a global basis by 2020.