High solar potential for southern Europe

Getting greenlight: An Air France aircraft, operated with sustainable aviation fuel produced by TotalEnergies is refuelled at Nice airport in France. TotalEnergies has received environmental permits for three gigawatts of solar capacity across 48 planned plants in the Madrid, Murcia and Aragon regions. — Reuters

SOLAR power is a key driver of Europe’s energy transition away from fossil fuels, with solar capacity growing by more than twice the pace of wind capacity since 2018 as governments and utilities across the region accelerate green energy roll-outs.

Installed solar capacity in Europe has jumped by 88% since 2018, dwarfing the 35% rise in wind capacity over the same period, and in 2022 accounted for 24% of Europe’s clean energy generation, versus wind’s 26%, data from think tank Ember shows.