Snapshot of Photovoltaics − May 2023
Arnulf Jäger‐Waldau
Abstract
In 2022 the cumulative installed photovoltaic electricity generation capacity increased to over 1 TW, 10 years after it reached the 100 GW level in 2012. In 2022, overall investment in renewable energy has increased by 16% to USD 499 billion compared to USD 953 billion for fossil fuels, which saw an increase of 6%. Investments in solar photovoltaics accounted for USD 301.5 billion or 60% of the renewable energy investments. The annual installations of solar photovoltaic electricity generation systems increased by about 40% to over 230 GWp in 2022. Compared to 2021, the number of countries which installed 1 GWp/year or more has increased by almost 80% to 32. Despite the increase in hardware costs for solar photovoltaic systems and battery storage, both markets had a strong growth, driven by the soaring energy prices in 2022. The increase of the levelised costs for solar photovoltaic electricity was well below the increase of electricity generated with fossil fuels. The electrification of heating, transport and industry will create additional demand for renewable electricity, including solar, if we want to stay on track for not more than 1.5 °C global temperature increase.