New solar installations within the European market will double in the next three years to reach a level of approximately 20 gigawatts (GW) per year, according to a Wood Mackenzie report yesterday.

The total installed capacity in the region will surpass 250 GW by 2024, according to the new research entitled "Europe Solar PV Market Outlook 2019." Germany will remain Europe's largest photovoltaic (PV) market, installing 21 GW between 2019 and 2024, the research shows. Spain will come a close second, with almost 20 GW of mostly utility-scale capacity expected.

"A total of seven European countries will install at least 5 GW during the period, while 18 will install more than 1 GW," Wood Mackenzie estimated.

The countries that will add at least 5 GW are Germany, the Netherlands, the U.K., Spain, Italy, France and Turkey.

Commenting on the report, Tom Heggarty, Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables senior analyst, said several EU member states have already committed to 100 percent renewable power or zero-carbon power targets.

He also said that over 170 GW of gas, coal and nuclear capacity would be displaced from the market by 2040, while the share of solar PV's generation would reach 13 percent by 2040, up from the current 4 percent.

Heggarty added that in keeping with EU guidelines on state aid for renewable energy, technology-neutral procurement is becoming more commonplace, with solar increasingly being exposed to direct competition with other renewable power technologies

- particularly onshore wind.