Solar Resources and Carbon Footprint of Photovoltaic Power in Different Regions in Europe

The 2011 world average carbon footprint of PV system manufacturing is estimated as 1798 kg CO2eq/kWp using technology shares (multi, mono, film Si, CdTe, CIGS) as weighting factors. The electricity mixes of all production countries of poly-Si, wafer, cell and modules was taken into account. New yearly irradiation data (kWh/m) and PV energy output (kWh/kWp) are calculated for different regions in Europe on NUTS level 1 and 2 for horizontal, optimum and vertical angle. The world average carbon footprint of PV electricity generation is estimated as 55 g CO2eq/kWh with cumulative installations as weighting factors. Lowest value of 38 g CO2-eq/kWh is for Cyprus which has a high irradiation and the highest value of 89 g CO2-eq/kWh is for Iceland which has a low irradiation. It is assumed that the PV modules are installed at optimal angle to the sun and end-of-life treatment is excluded. The majority of countries can decrease the greenhouse gas emission of electricity generation by increasing the share of photovoltaics.