Energy

Some figures: worldwide

Italy is in the 4th position among the major producers of solar energy after Germany, Spain, Japan and the USA (Renewables 2011 Global Status Report). When analyzing the data, it is necessary to bear in mind the extension of the various Countries that are compared – It is significant that a Country as small as Italy can compete with a giant like the USA. If we analyze the data of the various geographical areas in the world, it can be seen how Europe has always had a pioneering role in this field, and at present it is the leader with the largest amount of power installed, with 13.3 GW (80% of the installed power on a world scale), versus 9% in Japan and 6.2% in the USA. And in view of this difference in the percentages, it is quite probable that Europe shall continue for a long time to have the role of  leader in the photovoltaic sector. Japan is one of the emerging Countries in this field, and in the two year-period, 2007-2008, significant increases can be seen also in the rest of the world. As for the thermal solar, technologies to heat water by solar energy are spreading in many countries. China, Germany, Turkey, India and Australia were the protagonists of the solar thermal market in 2009. In particular, in 2009, China has increased the capacity of solar heat by 80% over the previous year. In 2010 were installed 25 gigawatt thermal (GWth) around the world and the total installed capacity has reached 185 GWth.