Ukraine will increase the capacity of solar power plants by 400 MW to 600 MW in 2012, Macquarie Research forecasts on the basis of information from the European Photovoltaic Industry Association, Germany's Solarbuzz and other sources.
According to the analysts, Ukraine will construct and commission new PV facilities with the total capacity of 1.8 GW by 2016, which is almost equivalent to the capacity of two nuclear reactors.
According to Macquarie Research's estimates, Ukraine, which was included in the forecast for the first time, will annually put in operation 400 MW of new PV facilities in 2012-2013, in each of 2014 and 2015 - 500 MW.
Meanwhile, according to the updated draft Energy Strategy of Ukraine, prepared and promulgated by the Energy and Coal Industry Ministry, the installed capacity of solar power stations will increase to 1.5-2.5 GW by 2030.
However, many Ukrainian and foreign experts point out that the indicators of the solar power development proposed by the energy ministry do not correspond to the actual rate of the sector's development.
Analysts from Macquarie Research believe that the solar power sector will develop more rapidly in Ukraine than in Bulgaria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria, Portugal, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden and Denmark, but more slowly than in Germany, France, Italy, Belgium and Greece.
The leaders in the industry's development will be China, the United States and Germany in the next four years.
As reported, over the past two-and-a-half years Ukraine constructed and commissioned more than 20 solar power plants with a total capacity of over 270 MW. In particular, at the end of last year it launched the Perove solar farm of over 105 MW in Crimea, which is the largest solar park in Europe and the CIS.
In addition, Ukraine's parliament approved a bill in July at first reading aimed at simplifying the access of households to the mechanism of a feed-in tariff. The adoption of this document might give a new impetus to the development of solar energy in Ukraine, as it will make the installation of PV panels on the roofs of citizens' own homes economically attractive.
