Many countries and territories have installed significant solar power capacity into their electrical grids to supplement or provide an alternative to conventional energy sources. Solar power plants use one of two technologies:
As of 2018, renewable energy accounted for 79% of the domestically produced electricity used in Brazil.
India's solar power installed capacity was 73.32 GWAC as of 31 December 2023.
For solar power, South Asia has the ideal combination of both high solar insolation and a high density of potential customers.
Solar power accounted for an estimated 10.7% electricity in Germany in 2022, up from 1.9% in 2010 and less than 0.1% in 2000.
Solar power has a small role in electricity production in the United Kingdom.
As of August 2020 Chile had diverse sources of electric power: for the National Electric System, providing over 99% of the county's electric power, hydropower represented around 26.7% of its installed capacity, biomass 1.8%, wind power 8.8%, solar 12.1%, geothermal 0.2%, natural gas 18.9%, coal 20.3%, and petroleum-based capacity 11.3%. Prior to that time, faced with natural gas shortages, Chile began in 2007 to build its first liquefied natural gas terminal and re-gasification plant at Quintero near the capital city of Santiago to secure supply for its existing and upcoming gas-fired thermal plants. In addition, it had engaged in the construction of several new hydropower and coal-fired thermal plants. But by July 2020 91% of the new capacity under construction was of renewable power, 46.8% of the total solar and 25.6% wind, with most of the remainder hydro.
Solar power consists of photovoltaics (PV) and solar thermal energy in the European Union (EU).
As of 2019, renewable energy in Morocco covered 35% of the country’s electricity needs.
Development of solar power in Greece started in 2006 and installations of photovoltaic systems skyrocketed from 2009 because of the appealing feed-in tariffs introduced and the corresponding regulations for domestic applications of rooftop solar PV. In 2019, 90% of the around 2.5 GWp capacity was installed in 2011, 2012 and 2013. However, funding the FITs created an unacceptable deficit of more than €500 million in the Greek "Operator of Electricity Market" RES fund. To reduce that deficit, new regulations were introduced in August 2012 including retrospective feed-in tariffs reduction, with further reductions over time. These measures enabled the deficit to be erased by 2017.
Enel Green Power S.p.A. is an Italian multinational renewable energy corporation, headquartered in Rome. The company was formed as a subsidiary of the power generation firm Enel in December 2008. It has operations in five continents generating energy from solar, geothermal, wind and hydropower sources. As of 2022, it manages a capacity of 60,9 GW and has over 1200 plants worldwide.
Primary energy consumption in Spain in 2015 was mainly composed of fossil fuels. The largest sources are petroleum (42.3%), natural gas (19.8%) and coal (11.6%). The remaining 26.3% is accounted for by nuclear energy (12%) and different renewable energy sources (14.3%). Domestic production of primary energy includes nuclear (44,8%), solar, wind and geothermal (22,4%), biomass and waste (21,1%), hydropower (7,2%) and fossil (4,5%).
Solar power is an important contributor to electricity generation in Italy, accounting for 8% of the total in 2017. As of 2022, the country has a total installed capacity of 22.56 GW. In 2019, Italy set a national goal of reaching 50 GW by 2030.
Solar power in France including overseas territories reached an installed capacity figure of 11.2 GW in 2020, and rose further to 17.1 GW at the end of 2022. Government plans announced in 2022 foresee solar PV capacity in France rising to 100 GW by 2050.
Solar power in Mexico has the potential to produce vast amounts of energy. 70% of the country has an insolation of greater than 4.5 kWh/m2/day. Using 15% efficient photovoltaics, a square 25 km (16 mi) on each side in the state of Chihuahua or the Sonoran Desert could supply all of Mexico's electricity.
Solar power generated 12% of Bulgaria’s electricity in 2023.
Solar power in Denmark amounts to 3,529 MW of grid-connected PV capacity at the end of December 2023, and contributes to a goal to use 100% renewable electricity by 2030 and 100% renewable energy by 2050. Solar power met 6.1% of Danish electricity demand in 2022, the highest share in the Nordic countries.
Under its commitment to the EU renewable energy directive of 2009, France has a target of producing 23% of its total energy needs from renewable energy by 2020. This figure breaks down to renewable energy providing 33% of energy used in the heating and cooling sector, 27% of the electricity sector and 10.5% in the transport sector. By the end of 2014, 14.3% of France's total energy requirements came from renewable energy, a rise from 9.6% in 2005.
In 2022 Chile produced about 18% of its electricity from solar power, up from 7% in 2018. As of 2022, Chile produces the highest percentage of its electricity from solar in the world. At the end of 2021 Chile was ranked 22nd in the world in terms of installed solar energy.
