以波兰和匈牙利为代表的中东欧太阳能增速迅猛

波兰和匈牙利是迄今为止中东欧公用事业规模太阳能增长的最重要推动力。

今年前七个月，波兰的太阳能发电量为11.3TWh，匈牙利为5.8TWh。根据Ember公司的数据，两国的发电量与2023年同期相比分别增长了33.3%和47.7%，是全欧增长最快的国家之一。

中欧/东欧的太阳能绝对发电量也在欧洲同行中名列前茅。事实上，今年到目前为止，该地区最大的五家太阳能生产商的总发电量仅比西欧最大的五家太阳能生产商（比利时、法国、德国、荷兰和瑞士）少10%。

在太阳能增长方面，中欧/东欧各国已具备与西欧较富裕经济体竞争的能力，这凸显出相对于其他发电形式，太阳能装机的价格已非常低廉。

就绝对发电量而言，中东欧五大太阳能生产商位居欧洲第三，与西欧和南欧的五大太阳能生产商还有较大差距。

Ember的数据显示，2024年前七个月，西欧最大的太阳能生产商发电量为83.53TWh，而南欧五大太阳能生产商——希腊、意大利、葡萄牙、西班牙和土耳其——发电量为76.12TWh。相比之下，中欧五大太阳能生产商25.2TWh的发电量显得微不足道。

然而，在过去的三年里，中东欧地区太阳能发电量的年增长率约为49%，这使得整个欧洲19%、西欧16%和南欧21%的年增长率黯然失色。

如果在2030年前保持这种增速，中东欧五大太阳能生产商的总发电量将在2029年超过西欧同行，在2030年超过南欧同行。

中东欧最大的太阳能生产商的太阳能发电量已经比北欧同行（丹麦、芬兰、立陶宛、瑞典和英国）高出76%，并且有望在整个地区继续扩大发展。

据开发商Enlight称，位于匈牙利西部的60MW的Tapolca太阳能发电场已于7月下旬开始运行，每年将为3万户家庭提供足够的电力。在波兰，由Lightsource BP公司开发的一个40MW的新项目也于同月启动运行。

不过，该地区最大的项目是位于保加利亚Apriltsi的400MW发电场，该发电场拥有超过80万块光伏电池板，旨在向保加利亚和整个东欧供电。除了是欧洲最大的太阳能园区之一，Apriltsi项目的另一个重要意义在于其太阳能电池板高达2.2米（7.2英尺），这使其下方的土地可以继续用于农业生产。

土耳其和波兰正在试行更多的“光伏农业”项目，这些项目将在产生更多清洁发电力的同时，减少对农田的影响。

鉴于当地已经为传统太阳能提供了足够的政策支持，更多农业光伏项目的成功部署将增强中欧/东欧地区未来几年太阳能发电的势头。

Poland and Hungary become key new drivers of Europe’s solar growth

Electricity generation from solar farms is growing faster in Central and Eastern Europe than in any other European region, vastly exceeding the growth rates seen in both wealthier and sunnier parts of the continent.

Through the first seven months of 2024, utility-run solar output in the five largest solar producers in Central/Eastern Europe - Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Poland - jumped by 55% from the same months in 2023, data from Ember shows.

That's over twice the growth rate for Europe as a whole, and sharply exceeds the paces posted by the five largest solar generators in Western Europe, Southern Europe and Northern Europe over the same period.

Central and Eastern Europe's top five solar producers have also expanded solar generation capacity faster than regional peers since 2019, paving the way to continued solar output growth in one of Europe's most heavily industrialized areas.

DRIVING FORCES

Poland and Hungary are by far the most important drivers of utility-scale solar growth in Central/Eastern Europe.

Through the first seven months of the year, solar-powered electricity generation in Poland was 11.3 Terawatt hours (TWh) and was 5.8 TWh in Hungary.

Those output figures were up 33.3% and 47.7%, respectively, from the same periods in 2023, according to Ember, and rank among the fastest growth rates in all of Europe.

In absolute generation terms, those output figures also rank highly among European peers.

Indeed, the five largest solar producers in the Central/Eastern European region boosted collective solar-generated electricity by just 10% less so far this year than the five largest solar producers in Western Europe - Belgium, France, Germany, The Netherlands and Switzerland.

The ability of nations across Central/Eastern Europe to compete with wealthier economies in Western Europe in terms of solar growth underscores how affordable solar installations have become relative to other forms of electricity generation.

The rapid growth in solar generation in Central/Eastern Europe also reflects supportive clean energy policies across the region, which has historically been one of Europe's heaviest coal-burning regions.

Both Poland and Hungary - the region's two largest solar producers - have targeted net zero carbon emissions in power generation by mid-century, and plan aggressive further expansions in clean energy generation.

CLIMBING THE GENERATION RANKS

In absolute generation terms, the five largest solar producers in Central/Eastern Europe still rank a distant third in the region behind the five largest solar producers in Western and Southern Europe.

Through the first seven months of 2024, Western Europe's largest solar producers generated 83.53 TWh of electricity, while Southern Europe's five largest solar producers - Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Turkey - generated 76.12 TWh, Ember data shows.

The 25.2 TWh of solar electricity generated by Central and Europe's five largest solar producers looks small comparatively.

However, over the past three years the Central/Eastern European region has boosted solar generation by roughly 49% a year, which dwarfs the 19% annual growth pace for Europe as a whole, the 16% pace of Western Europe, and the 21% for Southern Europe.

If those growth rates were sustained for the rest of this decade, the generation total by the five largest Central and Eastern solar producers would surpass that of their peers in Western Europe in 2029 and those of Southern Europe in 2030.

FURTHER GAINS

The largest solar producers in Central/Eastern Europe already produce 76% more solar electricity than their peers in Northern Europe (Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Sweden and the United Kingdom), and look primed for further aggressive solar growth across the region.

Operations at the 60 megawatt (MW) capacity Tapolca solar farm in western Hungary began in late July, and will supply roughly enough electricity for 30,000 households annually, according to developer Enlight.

And in Poland, a new 40 MW project developed by Lightsource BP commenced operations last month.

The region's largest project, however, is the 400 MW farm in Apriltsi, Bulgaria, which boasts over 800,000 photovoltaic panels and is designed to supply electricity not just to Bulgarian customers but across Eastern Europe.

And beyond being one of the biggest solar parks in Europe, the Apriltsi project is also significant for the height of its panels, which at 2.2 meters (7.2 feet) allow for the land below to be used for agriculture purposes.

Further so-called agrivoltaic projects are being trialled in Turkey and Poland, and look set to yield additional clean electricity generation with only limited impact the region's farmland.

And given the strong local policy support for traditional solar already in place, the successful deployment of more agrisolar projects could help the Central/Eastern Europe region gather even more solar generation momentum in the years ahead.