With nearly 100GW of installed capacity, Europe remains the most ‘solarised’ continent, according to figures presented by SolarPower Europe.

No other region can boast solar shares as high as Europe – on average nearly 4% of electricity consumption and in its most mature markets, such as Germany, Greece and Italy, around 8%, SPE said.

"The challenge is now to quickly master the transition phase from European solar markets that grew on very high premium feed-in tariff incentives, to new market-based frameworks, where prosumers use solar power for self-consumption in residential, commercial and industrial sectors," SPE chief executive James Watson says.

Europe