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Production and consumption of solar power and electricity |
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Nowadays, solar energy is still largely an energy source for developed countries, even if the main manufacturer of components is China.
Thermal captors
Surface area of solar thermal captors in the main European countries in 2004
| Country |
Total captor surface area (m²) |
Surface area installed / 1000 inhabitants (m²) |
| Cyprus |
500,200 |
715 |
| Austria |
2,318,958 |
286 |
| Greece |
3,047,200 |
272 |
| Germany |
6,554,000 |
79 |
| Denmark |
336,980 |
67 |
| Switzerland |
391,592 |
53 |
| Slovenia |
102,400 |
51 |
| Malta |
19,360 |
49 |
| Luxembourg |
13,400 |
27 |
| Sweden |
208,390 |
23 |
| The Netherlands |
303,756 |
19 |
| Portugal |
160,950 |
15 |
| Spain |
527,166 |
13 |
| Slovakia |
64,250 |
12 |
| Italy |
516,385 |
9 |
| France (excluding overseas departments) |
395,600 |
7 |
| Total Europe |
15,964,950 |
35 |
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Expressed in terms of total installed captor surface per number of inhabitants, the solar champions of Europe … are not the sunshine champions! (with the exception of Greece).
At the end of 2005, the total surface area of thermal captors installed on European roofs was close to 20 million m²; a figure due in the main to the German, Austrian and Greek markets. However, in Spain and Italy, national programmes are being activated to assist in the expansion of this technology.
It is estimated that there will be 37 million m² of solar thermal captors installed in Europe by 2010, that is to say, 91 sq m per 1000 inhabitants.
Photovoltaic captors |
Installed photovoltaic power at the end of 2005:
| Pays |
Installed power (MWc) |
Installed power/inhabitant (Wc) |
| Germany |
1,537 |
18.6 |
| Netherlands |
51 |
3.1 |
| Autria |
21 |
2.7 |
| Spain |
58 |
1.4 |
| Italy |
36 |
0.6 |
| France |
33 |
0.5 |
| Greece |
5 |
0.5 |
| United Kingdom |
11 |
0.2 |
| Total Europe |
1,794 |
3.9 |
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Solar power plants
The majority of solar plants currently in operation are of the parabolic trough design. Most of them are to be found in California (354 MW of installed power). A similar project exists in Spain: ANDASOL (2 times 50 MW).
Elsewhere, a large 500 MW plant, occupying a surface area of 9 km², is likely to be constructed in Israel in the next few years. 500 MW represent about 2% of this country’s total electricity power requirements in 2004.
The few solar power towers currently working are used above all as test beds, but their results are encouraging (the SOLAR 2 plant in California, 10 MW of power output with a molten salt as thermal carrier). Spain plans to begin construction, in mid-2006, of a 15 MW power station of this type near Seville.
In France, a project of European dimensions is progressing (the PEGASE project). It consists of the production of electricity by gas- and solar energy-driven turbines. Experience with two earlier European projects, ECOSTAR (2001-2003) and SOLGATE (2004-2005), will enable development of a power plant design based on a hybrid solar/fossil fuel tower plant with a gas cycle.
Parabolic reflector plants are still at the prototype stage, but a company based in Arizona is planning to market a 25 kW model in the near future and to manufacture up to 50 units a day.
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