The growth of solar power installations in Europe fell to 4% in 2024 after years of double-digit increases, industry data from SolarPower Europe has revealed.
After four years of soaring growth, the EU solar sector’s growth fell from 53% in 2023 to 4% in 2024.
SolarPower Europe’s annual EU Market Outlook for Solar Power reveals that 65.5GW of solar has been installed in 2024, just beating the 2023 record of 62.8GW of new solar.
The total EU solar fleet now stands at 338GW, quadrupling from 82GW a decade ago.
Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO of SolarPower Europe, said: “European policymakers and system operators can consider this year’s report a yellow card.
“Slowing solar deployment means slowing the continent’s goals on energy security, competitiveness and climate.
“Europe needs to be installing around 70 GW annually to hit its 2030 targets – we need to consider corrective action now, before it’s too late.”
The slowdown comes despite falling solar component prices and lower upfront costs for solar installations.
Ground-mounted utility-scale solar projects saw an average cost decline of 28% in 2024.
Despite the lower cost of capital, solar investment fell for the first time in the 2020s, from €63bn in 2023 to €55bn in 2024.
More widely, the market slowdown is attributed to system conditions.
Europe’s electrification rate has been stuck at 23% for the past five years, leaving most of the energy system dependent on fossil fuels and combustion.
The Electrification Alliance is calling for 35% electrification by 2030.
At the same time, system flexibility must work quickly to catch up to solar deployment.
A flexible, electrified system will slash 2030 day-ahead energy prices by 25%, while boosting the solar business case by 71%.
Amongst other flexibility tools, this will require a 16-fold growth from 48GWh of EU battery storage today to 780GWh of battery storage in 2030.
Looking forward, the future looks less bright than previously forecast.
By 2028, the sector could be installing 82GW per year, with annual growth at 3-7%.
By 2030, the most-likely medium scenario forecasts 816GW total solar capacity in the EU, that’s 8% down from our estimate of 890GW only six months ago.
Furthermore, for the first time, SolarPower Europe’s low scenario for 2030 warns that Europe could miss its REPowerEU target of 750GW and achieve only 650GW.