SolarPower Europe estimates that current rooftop PV generation is underestimated by EU authorities and member states.
“According to our analysis published in SolarPower Europe’s Solar+ report, solar energy generation is only systematically underestimated in EU and Member State statistics,” said Raffaele Rossi, head of market intelligence at SolarPower Europe. pv magazine.
By the end of 2025, the total installed solar capacity in the EU is expected to reach 406 GW. Based on aggregated data at a national level, SolarPower Europe estimates PV electricity generation at 410 TWh. However, official EU statistics from operators report only 275 TWh, a shortfall of more than 135 TWh, or 33%.
“There are several reasons that explain this phenomenon,” Rossi said. “Rooftop PV systems need to be registered with local grid operators, but the registration process often fails to capture all installations. The transfer of data to national energy statistics is delayed and incomplete. In addition, the very large number of distributed PV systems, especially in the residential segment, requires the aggregation of data from millions of installations. This can pose data management challenges for local grid operators, who often do not have the capacity to process such large amounts of information.”
Rossi added that self-consumed electricity is particularly difficult for grid operators to measure because it does not pass through their networks.
“Conventional electricity statistics do not take into account self-consumption, even though 80% of distributed generation is stored in batteries,” he said. “While smart meters can partially solve this problem and improve data availability, in most cases they only provide data on net consumption, rather than total solar energy generation.”
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