There will be a record volume in the Netherlands in 2020 solar panels installed. According to a new study by umbrella organization SolarPower Europe, the volume of installed solar panels will have grown by 2.8 gigawatts peak in 2020. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, that was 2.6 gigawatts peak in 2019.

Only Germany has installed more solar panels

Just like in 2019, the Netherlands is one of the 5 largest sales markets in Europe this calendar year, according to the researchers from SolarPower Europe. The Netherlands is in second place. Only Germany has installed more solar panels this year, about 4.8 gigawatts peak. Because sales in Spain have fallen, the Netherlands has taken second place from Spain.

The figure below shows the cumulative installed capacity in Europe, which has grown to 137.2 gigawatt peak in 2020. Since 2011, not as many solar panels have been installed in Europe as this calendar year: 18.7 gigawatts peak. Despite the fact that we are dealing with the corona crisis, the volume sold increased by 11 percent.

The Netherlands continues to grow to 15 gigawatt peak

SolarPower Europe has also made forecasts and scenarios for the period 2020-2024. It is expected that in the period 2020-2024 the Netherlands will continue to grow and that 15.0 gigawatts of solar panels will be installed in the Netherlands. This means that by the end of 2024, a total of around 24.2 gigawatts of solar panels will be installed in the Netherlands.

In that case, the Netherlands must tolerate two countries above it. Spain and Germany are doing better in Europe in the period 2020-2024 and it is expected that in these countries 15.8 and 26.9 gigawatts of solar panels will be added respectively. As a result, Spain will have a volume of 29.0 gigawatt peak of solar panels by the end of 2024 and Germany a volume of 81.5 gigawatt peak of solar panels.