The role and opportunities for solar energy in Finland and Europe

Solar energy provides multiple opportunities for renewable energy production. Technical potential to utilise solar energy in Europe and even in Finland is several times more than energy consumption in these regions. Economic potential is significantly smaller. However, the cost of solar energy is decreasing rapidly. In addition, when considering national economy or balance of trade, potential often increases in comparison to market potential without subsidies. In addition, people's willingness for self-sufficiency, new regulation regarding energy consumption of buildings and different dimensions of sustainability are important drivers for solar energy. In Europe, various subsidies for solar energy exist. Consequently, the amount of solar heating and photovoltaic electricity generation has increased. In the Nordic region, solar heating is often more economical than PV but the potential is limited by heat or hot water consumption, which is very case specific. If connection to district heating exists, potential is increased. On the other hand, Finnish CHP system is efficient and variable cost of district heat is therefore low in most regions. Demand for electricity is less regionally limited. In this report, PV and heat collector markets and scenarios are presented. In addition, different solar heating systems and applications are described, including costs of example systems with sensitivity analysis.