Written by Ronald Ho, Four Green Steps

Did your country make the list? Read on to find out...

Germany

Germany leads the world with 7.4 gigawatts of solar system installed with a total of 17,193 Megawatts of electricity generated each year. The German market offers the lowest system prices and Germany has a feed-in tariff that gives investors price certainty and long-term contracts. Around 43% of the country’s electricity is originated from solar energy.

Even though the country is weakened by the Euro zone crisis, solar industry is still quite resilient in Spain. With a superior geographical location to extensive solar exposure year long, there is still a lot of potential in the country. Up to 2012, only 10% of the country’s electricity is originated from solar energy.

Japan

Japan used to rely heavily on nuclear energy. However, right after the Fukushima disaster, there has been a huge boom in solar industry in Japan as there is a huge demand for safe and affordable energy. For now only 9% of the country uses solar energy as the primary source of energy but the number is rising quickly.

Italy

Similar to Spain, Italy has great geographical landscape for solar industry. However, the infrastructure is insufficient for the wide use of solar energy since only 2.3 gigawatts had been connected to the grid. So far only 9% of the energy comes from solar.

USA

The market for solar electricity in the U.S. is expanding rapidly, boosted by rising electricity costs and a high level of insolation. Within the U.S. solar market, California dominates with 60% of all U.S solar installations but it’s growing rapidly in states like New jersey. So far around 10% of the electricity comes from solar

Image couresty of Creative Commons.

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