As per a report on the report by Euronews, having all of these panels installed could replace seven billion cubic metres of fossil fuels, which would turn into 15 billion at the end of the year as Rystad Energy expects the number of panels in storage to grow to 100GW.
In the meantime, though, solar panel installation is going too slowly, in Tara Connolly’s eyes. The Beyond Fossil Fuels campaigner stated that “European countries need to expand training programmes for solar panel installers, address grid bottlenecks and streamline bureaucratic processes to get solar panels out of warehouses and onto the roofs of homes and businesses as fast as possible. This should be the top priority for governments across Europe trying to cut emissions and get Europe off gas rapidly.”
The EU has set its sights on 2050 for becoming a carbon-neutral society, with their efforts being accelerated by the war in Ukraine as Western nations have imposed heavy sanctions on imports from Russia, especially Russian oil and gas, which used to take up 25% and 40% of Europe’s supply, respectively. This overdependence on Russia has prompted the EU to double down on its renewable goals, and they’re now aiming for 42.5% deployment by 2030.