IEA: Europe to remain largest importer of solar panels at least until 2035

The European Union is currently the world’s largest importer of solar panels and technologies. According to the latest report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), this will remain the case at least until 2035.

The share of clean energy technologies in EU imports is expected to rise from just under 10 % in 2023 to 35 % in 2035, at the expense of fossil fuels. The news was reported by Balkan Green Energy News, citing the IEA report Energy Technology Perspectives 2024 (ETP-2024).

According to the IEA, domestic solar panel production in the EU met less than 15 % of demand in 2023. The rest was covered by imports, which also built up stocks equivalent to approximately three times the installations that year. The EU buys solar modules mainly from China and Southeast Asian countries, with some imports now also coming from the United States.

Domestic production in Europe stands at approximately 7 GWp of solar panels per year, and there are currently no significant plans to expand it. The IEA considers it more likely that solar panel and technology manufacturing capacity could decline in the future, mainly because of cheaper import options.

The IEA report also states that the EU’s share of global photovoltaic panel manufacturing capacity has fallen to less than 1 %. However, the bloc has retained a 3% share of the global supply of polysilicon, thanks to the high purity of the material produced in Germany and its export to China.

Global solar panel manufacturing capacity could rise to 1 695 GW per year by 2035, according to one of the scenarios analysed in the report. Manufacturing capacity stood at 1 115 GW in 2023.

The value of the global market for solar and wind technologies, as well as electric vehicles, batteries, electrolyzers and heat pumps, nearly quadrupled between 2015 and 2023 to more than USD 700 billion. This is equivalent to approximately half the value of all the fossil natural gas in the world.

Under current policy measures, the global market for these six key clean technologies would nearly triple by 2035, exceeding USD 2 trillion.