“Installed equipment, though not yet all connected to the mains, could be equal, at the end of 2010, to about 200,000 plants with 7GW of capacity,” Italy’s energy agency Gestore Servizi Energetici (GSE) says.

The figure was a mere 1.14GW at the end of 2009, and GSE adds: “During 2011, moreover, it is probable that the PV sector will already reach the 2020 target of 8GW.”

Many