Global PV market reaches 27.7 GW in 2011

SolarServer
European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA, Brussels, Belgium) announced the release of a new report which finds that 27.7 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity was commissioned globally in 2011, with 75% of the new global capacity in European nations. (...) "The PV industry is at a crossroads," said EPIA President Ingmar Wilhelm. "Whilst European markets have always outpaced home production, this will presumably no longer be the case in the years to come."
"New markets around the world will have to be opened up to drive PV development in the coming decade just as Europe accounted for it during the last decade."
These new capacities bring the world to an estimated 67.4 GW of global PV capacity at the end of 2011.
Contrary to the findings of other researchers, the EPIA ranks Italy as the world's largest market in 2011, followed by Germany, China, the United States, France and Japan, all of which installed more than 1 GW of new capacity.
EPIA states that the diversification of the global PV market can be considered the single most important achievement in the PV industry, but that many of these markets have addressed only a small part of their potential.