Page 60 - European Energy Innovation - Autumn 2015 publication
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60 Autumn 2015 European Energy Innovation

PHOTOVOLTAICS

Figure 2 Annual Photovoltaic Installations in the European Union from 2005 to 2015 and consumes itself instantly at
(data source: EPIA3, Eurobserver4 and JRC analysis) the time of generation.

20,000 One of the consequences/are the
effects on local jobs and the local
Annual Photovoltaic Installations [MWp] 15,000 Rest of EU economy as already described in
10,000 Greece last year’s edition6. Between 2011
United Kingdom and 2013 the PV jobs in Europe
Czech Republic halved from over 260 000 in 2011
Belgium and this trend continued in 2014
France and early 2015.
Spain
Italy More than 75% of the 260,000
Germany jobs were related to operating
and installing solar photovoltaic
5,000 electricity systems. Almost all of
these jobs were local European
0 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015e jobs contributing to the European
2005 gross national product. The
steep drop in new installations
Figure 3 Annual Photovoltaic Installations from 2005 to 2015 since then has led to a dramatic
(data source: EPIA2, Eurobserver3 and JRC analysis) reduction of these local jobs and
with it the positive effect on the
55 local European economy.

Annual Photovoltaic Installations [GWp] 50 The second main consequence of
Rest of Europe the decreasing solar photovoltaic
electricity system market in Europe
45 United Kingdom is the fact, that European citizens
Italy are not harvesting the fruits of
electricity below the residential
40 Germany retail price, which is now available
Rest of World for a large number of them7.

35 China For over 40 years, governments all
United States over the world have spent billions
of Euros on R&D to lower the
30 Japan hardware costs of photovoltaic
systems. The increasing market
25 has enabled the industry to follow
the price-experience or “learning”
20 curve with an average learning
rate for solar modules of about
15 80%, i.e. the average selling
price (ASP) of solar modules fell
10 by 20% for each doubling of the
production volume. PV system
5 prices have followed the lowering
of module prices but at a slower
0 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015e pace. The reason for this is that
2005 non-technical costs have not

Member States have set specific the period beyond 2020, as well www.europeanenergyinnovation.eu
photovoltaic solar energy targets, as the ongoing changes in the
adding up to 84.5 GW in 2020. At regulatory frameworks give no
the end of 2014, this target had investment security to potential
been exceeded in the European investors. In addition, some of
Union as a whole (Fig. 4). The the European Member States
absence of mandatory national introduced levies on electricity,
renewable energy targets for which the consumer generates
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