Solar power in Belgium reached an installed capacity of 4,254 MW of power generating 3,563 GWh of electricity in 2018.
In 2015 PV solar power accounted for around 4% of Belgium's total electricity demand, the 4th highest penetration figure in the world, although the country is some way behind the leaders
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
and
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
at between 7% and 8% of electricity demand.
Installed capacity grew at an outstanding pace from 2008 until 2012, but its growth has since slowed to a steady pace. Almost all of solar power in Belgium is grid connected.
Timeline
2007
Installed capacity of
solar power
Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic e ...
increased drastically after 2007. During 2009 the amount of solar installations quadrupled from 16,000 to 65,000. Residential and small installations had a combined power of about 220 MWp.
2009
In December 2009, there were 35,500 solar power installations in the Flemish region, 17,000 in Wallonia and 7,000 in the Brussels Capital Region.
[Le nombre de panneaux solaires explose](_blank)
/ref> The number of installations in the Flemish region in particular was expanding rapidly at that time due to a favourable support measure expiring at the end of the year.[50.000 Vlaamse gezinnen hebben zonnepanelen eind 2009](_blank)
/ref>
2011
At the end of 2011 the bulk of photovoltaic capacity was installed in the Flemish Region
The Flemish Region ( nl, Vlaams Gewest, ),; german: Flämische Region usually simply referred to as Flanders ( nl, link=no, Vlaanderen ) ; german: link=no, Flandern is one of the three regions of Belgium—alongside the Walloon Region and t ...
(88%), the remaining 12% was found mostly in Wallonia
Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...
. The smaller Brussels-Capital Region
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
had an installed capacity of 7 MWp. .
2013
In 2013, Belgium's ''watt per capita'' distribution, the total installed photovoltaic capacity per inhabitant, amounted to 267 watts. This was the third highest per-capita figure in the European Union—and therefore also in the world at that time—just behind Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
(447 watts) and Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
(295 watts). In terms of the overall installed capacity of 2,983 MW, Belgium ranked tenth and belonged to the Top 10 leading photovoltaic countries in the world.
2014
In the afternoon of 20 March 2014, a new record of peak electricity generation had been achieved. According to the power supplier Eneco Energie
Eneco, the trading name of Eneco Groep N.V., is a producer and suppliers of natural gas, electricity and heat in the Netherlands, serving more than 2 million business and residential customers. Eneco headquarters are located in Rotterdam. It ...
, more than two gigawatt of electric power, corresponding to two full-sized nuclear power plants, were generated by solar PV and supplied more than 20 percent of the overall electricity consumption at the time.
2015
In 2015 Solar PV per capita amounted to 287 Watts, the third highest in the world after Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
and Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, providing around 4% of Belgium's total electricity demand.
2016
Solar PV per capita grew to 302.8 Watts, remaining the third highest in the EU.
2022
OVAM'','' the public waste agency of the Flemish-speaking macro-region of Flanders, has created an online map of the region's 2,500 landfills. They cover a total surface area of more than 100 square kilometers.
The agency said most of the sites are currently inactive. Only 2% of the region's waste is being brought to such locations.
Solar PV market by segment
Nearly 63% of solar power installed in Belgium in 2017 was for small systems of less than 10 kW, mostly residential rooftop Solar PV. Larger systems over 250 kW accounted for almost 20% of the total.
Residential Solar PV Capacity
According to a report on behalf of the European Commission in 2015 Belgium Flanders had an estimated 1,301 MW (666 MW) of residential solar PV capacity with 336,000 (232,000) residential solar PV prosumers in the country representing 7.1% (3.7%) of households. The average size of residential solar PV systems is estimated to be 3.87 kW moving to 2030. The technical potential for residential solar PV in Belgium Flanders is estimated at 7,327 MW and Belgium Wallonia at 3,753 MW . The payback time for residential Solar PV in Belgium Flanders was 14.7 years whilst in Belgium Wallonia it was 6.9 years as of 2015. Some of the advantages of small scale residential Solar include eliminating the need for extra land, keeping cost saving advantages in local communities and empowering households to become prosumers of renewable electricity and thus raising awareness of wasteful consumption habits and environmental issues through direct experience.
Flanders
As of July 2012 there are 42,644 photovoltaic installations in the Flemish region
The Flemish Region ( nl, Vlaams Gewest, ),; german: Flämische Region usually simply referred to as Flanders ( nl, link=no, Vlaanderen ) ; german: link=no, Flandern is one of the three regions of Belgium—alongside the Walloon Region and t ...
that receive green certificate
A green certificate are a tradable commodity proving that certain electricity is generated using renewable energy sources. Typically one certificate represents the generation of one Megawatthour of electricity. What is defined as "renewable" varie ...
s.
Subsidies
Towards 2011, it became clear that Flemish subsidies for solar panels had a significant impact on the cost of electricity of households without a photovoltaic installation. An added cost of up to 148 EUR is charged annually. Flemish minister for Energy Freya van den Bossche admitted that subsidies were too high, especially for large-scale installations. The guaranteed minimum price for electricity produced was reduced. For small photovoltaic installations(less than 1 MW) it was reduced from 330 EUR per MWh to 250 EUR per MWh by January 2012 with the goal of reaching renewable energy targets at a reasonable cost. This resulted in a rally which caused the number of installations to almost double from 20,514 to 37,355 in 2011. The minimum price will be lowered further to 93 EUR per MWh from 2013 onwards.
Notable installations
A solar park of 100MW is set to be built near the town of Lommel, in the Flemish province of Limburg. Construction will start in September 2018 and will be completed mid-2019. It will produce 83 GWh per year equivalent of the consumption of 24000 households.
In 2011 a above ground "tunnel", built to avoid having to fell trees for a new high-speed railroad, was covered with solar panels.
In December 2009, Katoen Natie
Katoen Natie is an international logistics service provider and port operator. The company is present in 36 countries in five continents and employs about 13.000 people worldwide. In 2009 the company had 154 logistics platforms. Its headquarte ...
announced that they will install 800,000 m² of solar panels in various places, including Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, . It is expected that the installed solar power in the Flemish Region will be increased by 25%, when finished. That will be the largest installation in Europe. The installation produces about 35 GWh yearly. The total cost will be 166 million euros.
In October 2009, the city of Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, announced that they want to install 2,500 m² of solar panel
A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a photo ...
s on roofs of public buildings, that will generate 265 MWh
A kilowatt-hour (unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a unit of energy: one kilowatt of power for one hour. In terms of SI derived units with special names, it equals 3.6 megajoules (MJ). Kilowatt-hours are a common bil ...
per annum.
In 2009, the city of Leuven
Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...
installed 1,810 solar panels on public buildings.Leuven plaatst zonnepanelen op 4 stadsgebouwen
/ref>
Wallonia
See also
* Energy in Belgium
Energy in Belgium describes energy and electricity production, consumption and import in Belgium.
It is governed by the energy policy of Belgium, which is split over several levels of government. For example, the regional level is responsible ...
* Wind power in Belgium
Wind power in Belgium depends partially on regional governments (Brussels-Capital Region, Flemish Region, Walloon Region) and partially on the Belgian federal government. Wind energy producers in both the Flemish and Walloon regions get green ...
* Solar power
Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic e ...
* Renewable energy by country
This is a list of renewable energy topics by country and territory. These links can be used to compare developments in renewable energy in different countries and territories and to help and encourage new writers to participate in writing about ...
References
External links
{{Renewable energy by country
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
Renewable energy in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...