Solar power has a small but growing role in electricity production in the United Kingdom.
Solar power consists of photovoltaics (PV) and solar thermal energy in the European Union (EU).
Solar power in Romania had an installed capacity of 1,374 megawatt (MW) as of the end of 2017. The country had in 2007 an installed capacity of 0.30 MW, which increased to 3.5 MW by the end of 2011, and to 6.5 MW by the end of 2012. However, the record year of 2013 was an exception, and new installation fell back from 1,100 MW to a moderate level of 69 MW in 2014.
Solar power in Greece has been driven by a combination of government incentives and equipment cost reductions. The installation boom started in the late 2000s with feed-in tariffs has evolved into a market featuring auctions, power purchase agreements, and self-generation. The country's relatively high level of solar insolation is an advantage boosting the effectiveness of solar panels; within Europe, Greece receives 50% more solar irradiation than Germany.
The installed capacity of wind power in Hungary was 329 MW as of April 2011. Most of wind farms are in the Kisalföld region.
The Polish energy sector is the fifth largest in Europe. By the end of 2023, the installed generation capacity had reached 55.216 GW, while electricity consumption for that year was 167.52 TWh and generation was 163.63 TWh, with 26% of this coming from renewables.
Electricity in Cyprus is managed by the Electricity Authority of Cyprus. Power is primarily generated at three fuel oil-burning stations but the use of distributed renewable energy is expanding.
Renewable energy in the Czech Republic describes the renewable energy related development in the Energy in the Czech Republic.
As of the end of 2022, solar power in Austria amounted to nearly 3.8 gigawatt (GW) of cumulative photovoltaic (PV) capacity, with the energy source producing 4.2% of the nation's electricity.
The Czech Republic had almost two gigawatts (GW) of photovoltaic capacity at the end of 2010, but installed less than 10 megawatts (MW) in 2011 due to the feed-in tariff being reduced by 25%, after installing almost 1,500 MW the year before. Installations increased to 109 MW in 2012. In 2014, no new installations were reported.
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 Belgium reached an installed capacity of 9.9 GW at the end of 2023, an increase of 1.8 GW from 2022.
Solar power in Cyprus benefits from over 3,300 hours of sunlight annually, giving it the highest potential in the European Union (EU).
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.
Solar energy in Poland includes the production of solar thermal energy and solar photovoltaics. By the end of 2021, there were around 3,000,000 square metres (32,000,000 sq ft) of installed solar thermal collectors which in Poland are primarily used for heating up household water.
Renewable energy in Greece accounted for 29 percent of its electricity from renewable sources in 2021. By 2030, renewables are expected to have a capacity of 28GW, and exceed 61 percent of Greece's electricity consumption. This is a significant increase from 8% of the country's total energy consumption in 2008. By 2022, Greece occasionally reached 100% renewables for a few hours. The target for 2050 is a capacity of 65GW.
Under the original 2009 Renewable Energy Directive Ireland had set a target of producing 16% of all its energy needs from renewable energy sources by 2020 but that has been updated by a second Renewable Energy Directive whose targets are 32% by 2030. Between 2005 and 2014 the percentage of energy from renewable energy sources grew from just 3.1% to 8.6% of total final consumption. By 2020 the overall renewable energy share was 13.5%, short of its Renewable Energy Drive target of 16%. Renewable electricity accounted for 69% of all renewable energy used in 2020, up from two thirds (66.8%) in 2019.
Felsőzsolca Solar Park is a large thin-film photovoltaic (PV) power system, built on a 45 ha plot of land located in Felsőzsolca in Hungary. The solar park has around 74,000 state-of-the-art thin film PV panels for a total nameplate capacity of 20-megawatts, and was finished in November 2018. The solar park is expected to supply around 63 GWh of electricity per year enough to power some 10,000 average homes.
Mátra Solar Power Plant is a large thin-film photovoltaic (PV) power system, built on a 30 ha plot of land located in Visonta in Hungary. The solar park has around 72,480 state-of-the-art thin film PV panels for a total nameplate capacity of 16-megawatts, and was finished in November 2015.
MET Group is a Swiss-based European energy company with activities in natural gas, and power markets, focused on multi-commodity wholesale, trading and sales, renewable energy and industrial assets. MET was founded in 2007, starting as a MOL subsidiary. In 2022, MET Group's natural gas trading volume was 109 BCM.
