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Global rooftop solar capacity grew by 49 percent in 2022, an industry report finds.
Overall, installed rooftop solar grew from 79 gigawatts to 118 gigawatts last year and is projected to reach 159 gigawatts by the end of this year, according to SolarPower Europe, an industry trade group.
Total installed solar capacity, including both rooftop installations and large-scale arrays, rose from 940 gigawatts to 1,177 gigawatts last year and is projected to reach 1,518 gigawatts later this year. Globally, solar will generate enough power in 2023 to meet more than half of the EU’s power demand, the report said.
Analysts caution that the continued growth of solar will depend on building more energy storage to manage the peaks and troughs in solar output. Countries will also need to upgrade power grids to carry surplus solar power from where it’s generated to where it’s needed. Grid bottlenecks are hampering further solar development in 20 of the 26 major solar-producing countries, the report found.
“We’re installing huge amounts of solar, and we need to be able to use it when we need it,” Michael Schmela, director of market intelligence at SolarPower Europe, said in a statement. “Governments around the world must make upgrading their electricity and storage infrastructure a political priority.”
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