Solar Capture Rates across Europe

Written By Jack Gomersall

Introduction

As solar power has become a larger component of electricity supply across Europe we see greater and greater impact upon the wholesale electricity price, with electricity prices exhibiting a more pronounced “duck curve”.

This results in a cannibalisation of returns from Solar power plants which can be represented by a Capture Rate or the average value of a unit of solar energy vs the average value of a unit of energy.

This Capture Rate varies dramatically across European countries but across the board 2024 has seen the lowest Capture Rates yet:

  • 2020 Capture Rate was 101% while Solar Penetration was 4.1%

  • 2024 Capture Rate was 75% while Solar Penetration was 11.2%

    • 2024 data is not complete which will slightly increase the Capture Rate and decrease Solar Penetration.

This is great news to energy storage project developers giving increasingly strong price signals to underpin investments, the further development of which should have a corrective force on Solar Capture Rate. It is also a strong signal to solar developers to consider hybrid assets co-developing solar and storage projects.

Analysis

Use ctrl and left click to multi-select countries.

Data is sourced from Ember and Entsoe.

Note the following EEA countries are not included in the analysis:

  • Norway

  • Cyprus

  • Ireland

  • Malta

Jack Gomersall
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