The Top 5 Countries in Western Europe With The Most Solar-Powered Homes
Solar power is now reducing household electricity bills across Western Europe, following decades of research, development, and government intervention aimed at addressing the high upfront cost.
Some countries’ policies are more successful than others, though, and they’re reaping the benefits of this reliable, renewable energy source.
Sunsave has revealed the Western European nations with the most solar panelled homes by finding the number of domestic solar installations each country has, then dividing the result by the total number of households to find the percentage.
See the top 5 rundown below –
- Sweden, 4.6% of homes with solar
Sweden’s government started subsidising domestic solar installations all the way back in 2009.
Homeowners, businesses, and public bodies initially received a 60% rebate for switching to solar, though this subsidy level gradually declined, dropping to 20% by the time the scheme ended in 2021.
And in 2015, the government launched an income tax reduction initiative for homes and businesses that produce solar electricity, with participants able to save up to 18,000 Swedish Krona (£1,400) per year.
These programmes have been incredibly successful. Sweden’s small-scale solar capacity grew by 66% per year on average between 2009 and 2021, allowing the country to go from a solar nobody to fifth in Western Europe.
This may still seem like a slightly low position for a historically green nation that powers the majority of its electricity with renewable energy. Still, its northern, coastal location means that wind, nuclear, and hydropower are more popular sources.
- United Kingdom, 5.3% of homes with solar
The UK’s place in these rankings – above sunny Spain and France, as well as the eco-conscious Scandinavian nations – is mainly down to two government schemes.
The Feed-in Tariff, which launched in 2010, paid solar homes for all the electricity their panels generated and exported to the grid.
This extremely generous scheme led more than 800,000 households to make the switch to solar over the next five years.
The government then drastically reduced the scheme’s rates, before closing the programme in 2019. This all resulted in a few years of solar stagnation – until the Smart Export Guarantee began in 2020.
It compelled large energy companies to provide an export tariff to solar homes, and after a tricky start, it’s gone from strength to strength in recent years.
Around 500,000 homes have gone solar since the start of 2022, which has grown the proportion of UK households with solar panels by 51%.
- Italy, 6.1% of homes with solar
Italy has encouraged domestic solar growth with a series of government schemes.
The country launched a feed-in tariff in 2005 that paid solar homes for all the electricity they generated and exported.
Over its eight-year span, ‘Conto Energia’ prompted a significant uptick in domestic solar adoption, but this rate had slowed down by the time the Superbonus was launched in 2020.
The government spent more than £130 billion on this tax credit scheme, which paid back 110% of the cost of solar installations.
The three-year-long pandemic recovery initiative was successful at boosting solar adoption rates, with 12% of the country’s electricity now supplied by the sun.
Italy also offers a 10% VAT reduction (down from 20%) for solar installations, though this is stingy compared to the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands, which all have a 0% solar VAT rate.
- Germany, 9.8% of homes with solar
Western Europe’s top nation for solar generation – though not for domestic solar – got ahead of the game by launching its feed-in tariff before anyone else.
The country’s Electricity Feed-in Act became law in 1991, making it the first scheme of its kind in the world.
In the decades since, the country has updated, reconfigured, and replaced the initiative with similar feed-in tariffs, such as the Renewable Energy Sources Act, or EEG.
Whatever form they’ve taken, these schemes have always operated with the goal of encouraging households to go solar by paying them for their electricity.
This forward-thinking approach has paid off spectacularly. One in 10 German homes now has solar panels, and the nation is fourth worldwide for solar capacity, with more than 100 gigawatts.
Contrast that total to the UK, which has a similar population and economic standing – but substantially fewer solar homes.
- The Netherlands, 34.2% of homes with solar
More than a third of Dutch homes have switched to solar – a remarkable achievement that puts its streets ahead of every other country in Western Europe, despite having a similar climate to that of the UK.
The Netherlands’ government brought about this revolution with initiatives like ‘salderingsregeling’ (net metering), which allows solar households to offset their electricity usage with excess electricity they export to the grid.
This encouraged Dutch homes to go big with their systems, which also helped to boost the country’s solar capacity.
The government is set to replace net metering in 2027 with a similar programme to the UK’s Smart Export Guarantee, as the country changes its approach to better utilise its abundance of solar electricity.
Summary
The Netherlands has set the bar high for other countries in Western Europe, but its achievement in a cool, cloudy climate is fully replicable.
All it takes is some funding, the enthusiasm and strength of conviction needed to bring about a cultural shift, and clear messaging about the benefits of going solar.