The global solar power capacity is set for rapid growth. This
was confirmed by the Secretary General of the European
Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) Reinhold Buttgereit who
claims that solar power generating capacity will grow between
200% and 400% by 2016. In numbers this means that the 2011
global solar power capacity of 69.7 GW will likely grow to
between 207.9 GW and 342.8 GW in 2016. The factor that will play
the most important role in total rise of global solar power
capacity is political support in form of incentives available to
solar industry such as feed-in-tariffs. The fossil fuels still
have edge in costs over solar energy and this is the reason why
solar industry still requires favorable feed-in-tariffs. Germany
will very likely remain global solar energy leader but the
fastest growth in installed solar power capacity is expected in
China and India. Germany has decided to cut production
incentives to solar power generation this year and this has
slowed down the growth of country's photov