Presentation

EUPD Group Identifies Flattening European PV Growth and Significant C&I/Utility Shift in Storage

At the Addressing Environmental Adaptability for C&I Liquid-Cooling ESS event, Daniel Fuchs of EUPD Group detailed the evolving European energy landscape. He highlighted a flattening growth curve for solar PV and a notable segmental shift towards Commercial & Industrial (C&I) and utility-scale projects in both PV and energy storage markets.

Event
Addressing Environmental Adaptability for C&I Liquid-Cooling ESS
Market
Europe
Segment
Residential, Utility
Technology
BESS, Photovoltaics, Storage
Format
Presentation
Interviewer · EUPD Group
Daniel Fuchs
CCO · EUPD Group
Guest · EUPD Group
Daniel Fuchs
CCO · EUPD Group
Filmed ·Webinar·Runtime 16:38Presentation ·
PresentationAddressing Environmental Adaptability for C&I Liquid-Cooling ESS · Webinar
16:38
Filmed on site · No editorial direction beyond question set · Captions auto-generated, reviewed by EUPD Research

Key takeaways

4 points · 16:38 video
  1. European PV Growth is Flattening
    Despite record installations, Europe's annual installed solar PV capacity grew by only 2% from 2023 to 2024, indicating market maturity and increased competition across the fragmented market.
  2. Segmental Shift from Residential to C&I/Utility PV
    The Commercial & Industrial (C&I) segment for PV grew from 37% to 45%, and utility-scale from 25% to 27% from 2023 to 2024, while the residential segment saw an 8% decline in its share.
  3. C&I Energy Storage Poised for Significant Growth
    European C&I energy storage is projected to grow by 60% from 2023 to 2024. Annual installed capacity in selected European markets is forecasted to rise from 700 MW in 2021 to nearly 11 GWh by 2028.
  4. Policy Defines C&I Market Dynamics
    Policy visibility and uncertainty are identified as major barriers for the C&I market, while conversely, country-level targets and incentive programs serve as key drivers for market growth, especially in early-stage segments.

European PV Market Sees Flattening Growth Amidst Segmental Shifts

Europe's solar PV market, after a period of rapid expansion, is experiencing a flattening growth curve. From 2023 to 2024, the newly installed PV capacity grew by only 2%, reaching an estimated 66 to 69 gigawatts of new deployments across Europe this year. This trend is attributed to market maturity, increased competition, and geopolitical conditions. On a country level, PV deployment trends are diverging. Germany, after a boom in the early 2020s, saw a slightly reduced growth of 12%. Spain, Poland, the Netherlands, and Austria experienced declines of 13%, 11%, and 29% respectively compared to 2023. Conversely, France, Italy, Greece, Portugal, and Romania emerged as highlights in 2024, with Lithuania, Ireland, and Estonia identified as promising markets approaching gigawatt-scale deployments.

"Although the newly installed PV capacity broke another record last year, we see that the growth curve is flattening with only 2% we saw from 2023 to 2024." Fuchs · 01:12

Energy Storage Mirroring PV's Shift Towards C&I and Utility Scale

Similar to PV, the European energy storage market is undergoing a significant segmental shift. The dominance of residential energy storage is decreasing across Europe, as substantial investments flow into C&I and utility-scale projects. Germany remains a leading force in overall storage capacity, though its market has historically been dominated by residential installations. Italy and the UK, however, are seeing their storage growth primarily driven by C&I and utility-scale segments. This shift is propelled by factors such as ambitious climate targets, grid constraints, and the increasing occurrence of negative electricity prices. While the residential storage share is expected to remain stable, the overall market growth is increasingly driven by C&I and utility-scale segments. The C&I storage segment is projected to experience a substantial 60% growth in Europe from 2023 to 2024.

"The dominance of the residential energy storage segment across all Europe is decreasing. The dominance is coming to an end. It's still a very lucrative and big business, obviously, in Europe, but it won't be longer dominated only by residential storage as it was in the past." Fuchs · 08:57

Future Outlook for C&I Storage and Policy Requirements

The C&I energy storage space is on the cusp of significant expansion, with annual installed capacity in selected European markets forecasted to rise from 700 megawatts in 2021 to nearly 11 gigawatt hours by 2028. Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom are expected to remain market leaders, while countries like Austria, Switzerland, Spain, and France may require further impetus to accelerate their C&I storage deployments. Market analysis indicates that policy visibility and uncertainty represent the primary barriers to C&I market growth across Europe. Conversely, country-level targets and incentive programs are identified as crucial drivers, especially for segments in their nascent stages. Manufacturers are advised to develop tailored strategies for individual markets, leveraging precise knowledge to maximize their market share.

"This is not yet maturity. This is growth. We are now in the start of a very big thing in the C&I energy storage space in the very near future with massive increases in deployments." Fuchs · 11:48

Two questions on the stand

Chapters · click to jump
00:00
Introduction to EUPD Group and Presentation Scope
Daniel Fuchs introduces EUPD Group's work in energy transition through market research, advisory, and certification, and outlines the presentation's focus on European solar and energy storage markets.
00:49
Flattening Growth in European Solar PV
The European PV market shows a flattening growth curve with only 2% increase from 2023 to 2024, attributed to market maturity, competition, and geopolitical conditions, with 66-69 GW expected in 2024.
04:06
Country-Level PV Performance and Emerging Markets
Top 10 PV markets installed 54 GW in 2023, with Germany's growth slowing, and Spain, Poland, and the Netherlands seeing declines. France, Italy, Greece, Portugal, and Romania are emerging as key growth markets.
07:27
Segmental Shift in PV Deployment
There's a significant shift in PV deployment from residential to C&I (37% to 45%) and utility-scale (25% to 27%) segments from 2023 to 2024, driven by climate targets and economies of scale.
11:43
European Energy Storage Market Overview
The top 10 European storage markets installed 20 GWh last year, with Germany leading in volume. Italy and the UK show surging growth driven by C&I and utility-scale projects, while Germany remains residential-dominated for now.
13:52
Segmental Shift in Energy Storage
The dominance of residential energy storage is declining across Europe, with significant investments now flowing into C&I and utility-scale projects, driven by grid constraints and negative electricity prices.

Interview transcript

Auto-generated · reviewed · ~3 min read
My name is Daniel Fuchs. I'm the chief customer officer here at EUPV Group, working in the industry for the last 15 years in the solar coaster, how we call it. But yeah, at EUPV Group, we are extremely committed, excited to boost the energy transition on global level through really in-depth market research, through advisory services, through certification, as well as improvement services in form of branding, marketing, et cetera. So, yeah, my presentation today for you is titled Assessing Europe's Market and Developments for Both Solar as well as Energy Storage. So yeah, when we look at the first slide of my presentation, I'm showcasing the annual installed solar PV capacity on a European level. As we all know, the last 12 to 18 months in Europe have been quite challenging. And although the newly installed PV capacity broke another record last year, we see that the growth curve is flattening with only 2%, we saw from 2023 to 2024. We have a lot of reasons for that. It is shown as a really nice duck curve or S-curve, how we call it, that speaks on the one hand for market maturity, but also, in the same context, indicates that there is a fierce competition going on. And looking throughout Europe, we are quite fragmented, with 30 countries here, that we do have geopolitical conditions lately that are not, let's say, extremely pushing the deployment of renewable energies. When we look on the year running, 2025, we see this trend, a very slight growth of the European markets continuing, and you see it in the last bullet point on the right side. We expect between 66 and 69 gigawatts of new PV deployments throughout all Europe this year. Now let's take a look more on a country level. And we see that out of the deployments, we had approximately 65 gigawatts. Only the top 10 PV markets last year installed 54 gigawatts of this capacity. Nevertheless, also here we see very diverging trends happening. For instance, in Germany, after the huge boom in the early 2020s or '21, '22, we saw a slightly reduced deployment growth with only 12%. We see it near the flag. But also we saw a few setbacks for Spain, Poland, and the Netherlands, as well as Austria, who saw declines of 13%, 11%, and for the Netherlands, even 29% in the PV installations in the last year compared to 2023. But let's not underestimate the newcomers as well. We see there are countries now surging in terms of PV deployment, especially France, Italy, Greece, Portugal, and Romania were highlights in 2024, and there are more emerging markets coming towards the gigawatt circle in Europe. And we have here on our radar, clearly Lithuania, Ireland, as well as Estonia, which shouldn't be really underestimated. So why is this happening, or let's say some reasons. We see for sure, and this is now the underlying data-based facts, what Camel from Pylontech already said and underlined with the C&I commitment. We are focusing here on the European level, and we split it down to a segmental level. And as you can see here, it's quite granular with residential, and then in the C&I space, we even have four different metrics. And then we have the utility space. So why is this segmental shift happening? For sure, we see that the countries with their ambitious climate targets have to meet these. There is still a shortage of workforce in some countries in the residential segment, and we do see economies of scale coming that do speak for larger systemsAlso, I mentioned it before on the slide, there are fear factors that also should be taken into consideration in terms of geopolitical changes, lacking incentives, et cetera. So when we look on the comparison between 2023 and 2024, we see that the C&I segment rose from already 37% to 45%, and the utility scale segment from 25% to 27%. Obviously, as this is a 100% bar chart here, we saw a slight moderate decline of the residential segment for PV of 8% from '23 to 2024. Now we are looking on the storage side of the industry, and here we see the deployments on a country level, and only the top 10 storage markets in Europe installed approximately 20 gigawatt hours of new capacity in the last year. In terms of the total newly installed storage capacity, still Germany is the driving force within the European Union and even across intercontinental level in terms of volume, followed by a surging Italian market, and as well as the UK is on number three. For Italy, as well as the UK, the majority of last year's installations, and we see it later on as well, is coming from the C&I as well as utility scale segments. Utility, especially in the United Kingdom, heavily booming. Whereas Germany is still quite dominated, until now, I have to say, this will also probably change in the near future by residential level installations. So this slide I already introduced, we look now or we assess the countries also more granularly on the segmental level. And the major, let's say, message here of this slide and what we have been seeing based on the data and our experience lately is that the dominance of the residential energy storage segment across all Europe is decreasing. The dominance is coming to an end. It's still a very lucrative and big business, obviously, in Europe, but it won't be longer dominated only by residential storage as it was in the past. So across Europe, what does it mean? There are significant investments are now flowing into the C&I and utility scale projects, and we also see a growing push for increased self-consumption. So all together, combining these dynamics, they are driving profound shifts in the European energy storage market. Also, as PV and storage normally go hand in hand, which makes sense, we see a similar, here on the next slide, a similar segmental shift happening in the energy storage space. Why is this here happening? We have a pull forward effect because of the conflicts we currently see. As I mentioned beforehand, there is a significant investment volume going in large scale PV and also storage. There are already grid constraints. We need that for buffering. And we also see more often negative electricity prices. So while the share of residential storage is expected to remain unchanged, more or less, the market growth in total, here we see it based on gigawatt hours and it's not on percentage like in the PV slide, is driven by the C&I as well as utility scale segments. And for the C&I segment, we expect a growth from last year to this year in Europe of a massive 60%. So it is uptaking, extremely growing. When we then take a really close look into the annual installed C&I storage capacity, here we have selected European countries. This is also speaking for itself. This is not yet maturity. This is growth. We are now in the start of a very big thing in the C&I energy storage space in the very near future with massive increases in deployments.And we see it here also on the right, we have pointed it out. The annual installed capacity is to rise from 700 megawatts in 2021 to almost 11 gigawatt hours in 2028, yeah, across these selected European markets only. This is not whole Europe. The market leaders here are, let's say again, as I have shown in the previous slides, this is a forecast slide now, will be Germany, Italy, as well as the United Kingdom. But also, as we see here in our forecasting, some markets do need a further push and lagging a little bit behind that include Austria, Switzerland, Spain, as well as France. So what is really needed? We see a highly fragmented level here on how C&I energy deployments are pushed by incentives, how they are going naturally. Manufacturers do need to have tailored strategies for each of these markets and should have precise knowledge in order to gain the biggest share or piece of the cake possible in the big markets. So I will actually conclude here more or less with some voices from the field we have gained. This is based on our current commercial and industrial EPC monitor, that is out and available for everyone. And we have, as the name says, surveyed and investigated primary data insights from EPC companies. So we see when we look on the barriers, the policy visibility and uncertainty were the major barriers to the C&I market across all the countries in Europe we have researched. When we go to the drivers, nevertheless, this is the upper part, we see conversely, country-level targets and incentive programs served as the key driver for market growth. This is something when a market or a segment is in the early stage, is based also on our experience giving the major push in order to increase these segments and deployments there. To finish my short impulse presentation today, to underline the significance of what Kamil already mentioned about EUPD research. I guess most of the audience already know us. We are a globally operating company, EUPD Group, focusing on market research, focusing on advisory, certification, as well as improvement in terms of branding. We do have a very impressive global network that we have qualified and continuously expanded globally over the last 25 years of our company existence. And here you see our company group structure. So our major fields of operations are not just energy. So most of you will probably know the renewable energy or smart energy space of EUPD Group. We are also, since many years, very active in the field of ESG. We do have an ESG summit in Germany, a major event, flagship event we are hosting at the end of November every year in Bonn, Germany. And we are also covering a lot of social sustainability parts. So that's our nature, that's our DNA, where we come from, and we work with all the tier one companies together. So all across the value chain. And with that, I would like to thank you very much
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Frequently asked questions

European solar PV experienced a flattening growth curve from 2023 to 2024, with only a 2% increase in newly installed capacity. This slowdown is attributed to market maturity, increased competition, and existing geopolitical conditions, though total deployments are still expected to reach 66-69 gigawatts in 2024.

Germany, despite its large base, saw slightly reduced PV deployment growth. Spain, Poland, the Netherlands, and Austria experienced declines. In contrast, France, Italy, Greece, Portugal, and Romania were highlights in 2024, with Lithuania, Ireland, and Estonia identified as emerging markets approaching gigawatt capacity.

No, the dominance of the residential energy storage segment is decreasing across Europe. While still a significant market, investments are increasingly shifting towards C&I and utility-scale projects, driving profound changes in the European energy storage landscape.

The C&I energy storage segment in Europe is projected for substantial growth, with an expected 60% increase from 2023 to 2024. Furthermore, annual installed capacity in selected European markets is forecasted to rise dramatically from 700 megawatts in 2021 to almost 11 gigawatt hours by 2028.

Policy visibility and uncertainty are identified as major barriers for C&I market growth. Conversely, country-level targets and specific incentive programs are critical drivers, particularly for market segments in their early stages of development, providing the necessary push for increased deployments.