NYC Treehugger Matthew McDermott notes, “Despite difficult financial circumstances, the global solar industry added additional capacity of 6.4 gigawatts in 2009.” This growth represents an increase of 44%.

solar panel photo
photo: Wayne National Forest via flickr.

Global capacity is now more than 20 GW. In their latest assessment, the EPIA projects an extra 8.2 to 12.7 GW to come online during 2010. They also expect that global capacity will cross the 30 GW barrier sometime in 2014.

According to a new assessment by EPIA (European Photovoltaic Industry Association), Germany remains the largest solar market, followed by Italy, Japan, and the United States.

In Germany capacity grew by 3 GW in 2009, to a total of about 9 GW–though announced cuts in the nations generous feed-in tariffs which have so far helped the not exactly sun-rich country nonetheless lead the world in solar power could rein in that growth.

Elsewhere in Europe, Italy added some 700 MW last year, with the Czech Republic adding 411 MW, Belgium installing 292 MW, and France bringing 185 MW online. Third place Japan saw an additional 484 MW installed, while the US followed closed behind with 475 MW.

In regards to the exploding Italian PV market, GreenTech Media suggests that “Italy risks becoming the next victim of the PV gold rush.”

Over the past two years, this has happened in Spain (2008), the Czech Republic (2009) and, to a lesser extent, Germany (2009). Each of these countries had a national feed-in tariff without a hard cap, which enabled demand to expand far beyond the government’s expectations within a single year. And in each market, the government responded drastically, either by slashing rates (Germany), instituting a strict program cap (Spain), or placing the program entirely on hold (Czech Republic).

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