Solar is on the fast track. In 2022, the world installed 239 GW of new solar, finally surpassing the TW-scale. That’s 45% more solar power capacity than the year before. The positive market developments in the first months of 2023 promise another solar boom year, expected to result in 341 GW of newly-added solar to the grid, by the end of the year – equal to 43% growth.
This solar rush comesafter more modest progress in preceding years, which were characterised by pandemic triggered lockdowns, supply chain turbulence, and high productprices along the value chain. However, even in trickier times, the solar industry demonstrated very strong resilience, with newly installed lobal capacities increasing by 19% in 2020 and 18% in 2021. solar mounting clamps
The reasons for this spectacular performance are obvious. It comes down to the unmatched versatility of solar – powering individual energy self-sufficiency and comparatively quick-deploying utility-scale projects at competitive low cost. Despite solar’s levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) sliding upwards – for the first time – due to supply chain issues and inflation, it remains profoundly cheaper to produce electricity from solar than from new fossil fuel and nuclear power sources.
What changed for solar power in 2022 – and why we consider the year an inflection point – is the technology’s newly discovered image by a growing number of policymakers. Solar power now enjoys widespread acceptance as the key tool to achieve local energy security in the midterm. During the recent fossil fuel sparked energy crisis, the International Energy Agency (IEA) used two reports to highlight solar’s critical role to reduce the European Union’s dependence on Russian gas. The EU Solar Strategy of May 2022 even called solar the ‘kingpin’ of the continent’s effort to get off Russian gas. Such geostrategic considerations are applicable for other energy importing countries as well. In other words, solar has now untangled what was previously considered a gordian knot – the so-called energy trilemma of sustainability, affordability, and security of supply.
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