EU keeps world leading position in solar panel installations

Global production of solar panels grew by 10 percent in 2012 and Europe remains leader in newly installed capacities with over half (51.7 percent) of the new worldwide capacity, the European Commission said in a press release today. The total solar panel system capacity in Europe has reached 69 GW, enough to meet 2.4 percent of Europe's electricity demand, it noted. Within the EU, Germany remains on top with an additional 7.6 GW of solar panels while Italy's newly installed 3.5 GW have allowed it to reach an electricity production covering 7.3 percent of the total electricity demand during the first seven months of 2013. The rise in annual production has resulted in China and Taiwan to accounting for 70 percent of the global production of solar panels.