Bulgaria is among the countries that have not yet submitted their updated climate plans
Only 12 EU member states have updated their national energy and climate plans for 2030 by the deadline set by the EC. Eight of them are set to meet the new solar capacity targets at least three years early. This is recorded in a new analysis by the association SolarPower Europe.
It is clear from the data that almost half of the presented new projects under the National Climate and Energy Plan in the member states aim to double the capacity of solar energy. However, only 12 updated plans were received in the EC, although the deadline for this was June 30 this year, recalls Balkangreenenergynews. Bulgaria has also not yet submitted its updated plan.
According to SolarPower Europe data, eight countries are on track to meet their new 2030 solar capacity targets at least three years early: the Netherlands (2024), Cyprus and Sweden (2025), Croatia, Finland and Spain (2026) and Denmark and Luxembourg (2017). The rest are Italy, Lithuania, Portugal and Slovenia (2028-2030). The average increase for the target is 63%. The overall ambition for the EU jumped by 90 GW to 425 GW after the figures from the updated Energy and Climate Plans were clarified. We remind you that the EC is aiming for 750 GW of solar capacity for 2030, compared to 208 GW that are currently already producing electricity.
EU PV capacity on track to exceed official 2030 target by over 150 GW
“By modeling current installation trends, we can see that reality already exceeds this level of ambition. According to recent research, SolarPower Europe predicts the most likely scenario where over 900 GW of solar capacity will be installed in the EU by 2030.” says the report. Estonia, Ireland, Latvia and Poland have already met their solar targets, but these are from plans adopted in 2019.
Lithuania posted the largest increase in its target, up 508% to 5.1 GW. Among the countries that have updated their Climate Energy plans, Italy has the highest target – a staggering 79 GW, or 55% more than its first plan. However, Germany has a higher target at 98 GW, even before an update. And it may reach the current target in 2025, according to the experts’ estimate.
Slovenia has the highest new target for South East Europe
As for the South East Europe region, Cyprus aims to reach 900 MW and Croatia has increased its ambitions by 25% to 1 GW. While Slovenia doubled its plan to 3.5 GW. Cyprus already has excess solar energy that cannot be used by the grid at certain times.
Greece is expected to reach its old target of 7.7 GW next year, according to SolarPower Europe. In the intended update, the ambition was raised to 14.1 GW. Bulgaria is also expected to reach the initial mark of 3.2 GW in 2024. Romania will increase its total solar capacity to 5.1 GW under the 2019 plan. It is on track to reach the target in 2025. , the data show.
We remind you that in 2019 the EU authorized the member states to publish and implement their 10-year “Climate Energy” plans. These include policies and measures that would enable each country to achieve its renewable energy targets.