Even with Spain cutting all green technology funding and other countries,such as Germany,Italy and the U.K.reducing subsidies,Europe's use of solar power has continued to increase.Two thirds of the global increase in the use of solar energy came from E.U.nations in 2011.
The figures come from a report(PDF)by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission.Wired outlines some of the findings.
Last year 46.1GW of new energy capacity was installed in Europe,with 56 percent of that using photovoltaic technology.That means the EU currently meets two percent of all of its electricity demand using solar power—and while that might not sound like a lot,it's enough to power all of Austria…
That two percent isn't spread equally,of course.Certain countries are investing more in solar power than others—Germany in particular,which is the world's largest market for the technology.In May,across two particularly sunny days,the country managed to meet half its required electricity demand with solar power,and in July the government there announced that a quarter of the country's demand was being met by renewables.By comparison,the U.K.continues to lag behind with only nine percent of energy coming from renewable sources,and a government report from 2011 featured a relatively modest target of 35 percent by 2020.
A large part of the reason for the continuing growth is the drop in the cost of solar power which reportedly fell by 60%between 2008 and 2012.So,even with reduced subsidies,more capacity is being added per euro invested.
