NMSPV market grew from 9MWpin 2007 to almost 63 MWp of cumulative installed power in 2008. Although the PV NMS market is still rather small, it is growing rapidly proving its vast potential to become a considerable part of RES market in the EU. For the time being, barriers that hinder PV sector progress are still numerous. Disbelief of the general public that PV electricity can make a significant contribution to overall energy need at sensible price is one of the impediments to hamper the PV development. All in all the national policies and regulations along with private sector investments are based on dissemination of relevant, current information. Lack of political support, strong nuclear and coal lobbies, improper design of support schemes, poor consumer awareness and prejudice within utility sector are only some major obstacles for PV sector advancement.

Fig. 3.Trends in total installed PV power in NMS (2003-2008)

Until 2006, in NMS prevailed small off-grid PV installations. Big-scale on-grid installations took over recently. The most spectacular in this matter was the great “leap” in Czech Republic in 2008. The total installed capacity of PV power in NMS was constantly growing since 2003.At the end of 2008 it totalled some 63 MWp (Fig. 3 and 4, Table 1). Whereof on-grid installations constitute 96%. Such a growth of the annual PV markets is due to a successful implementation of support mechanisms. Market leaders such as Czech Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus and this year Bulgaria owe their growth to effective PV support mechanism, especially adequate Feed-in Tariff systems.

Fig. 4. The cumulative installed PV power in each NMS (2008)

Table 1. Cumulative installed PV power in NMS (2003-2008).

CZECH REPUBLIC

Big PV systems installed in the Czech Republic

The Czech Republic confirmed its leadership in the NMS PV market rising to morę than 54,6 MWp in 2008 (Fig. 7). This total installed capacity positions the Czech PV sector far ahead of the other countries. Czech PV sector takes the toll of responsible economic and fiscal policies. The staggering jump in cumulative installed on-grid capacity is a result of numerous large PV installations set up in 2008, further projects are under development. The largest PV installation of 3,368 MWp has been put in by EGEP a.s. in Vimperk. Dfvćice power plant with 2,9 MWp output, started to operate in December 2008 (Fig. 5). It is second the biggest PV plant in the Central and East Europę covering surface of 12 ha with 40 000 panels. Yearly production is estimated at 3 200 MWh. The investor was Energy21, Czech investment company realising large-scale projects in South Moravia and Bohemia.

Fig. 5. PV system in Dívćice (2.9MWp)

BULGARIA

The other country with enormous growth is Bulgaria with the total installed PV capacity of 1375 kWp. lnvestors have discovered the opportunities, the market is growing rapidly. With 25-yearguaranteed market is growing rapidly. With 25-year guaranteed generous feed-in tariffs without degression and good insolation conditions Bulgaria is an important new market which has an enormous growth potential and a high attractiveness for investors. The Bulgarian first solar power plant of 200 kWp Zorniza is built close to the south town Sandansky (Fig. 6). The expected yield is 1450 kWh/kWp per year. The maximum achieved power is 97,5% of the PV modules nominal power. This installation is combining two subsystems: 100 kWp tracking and 100 kWp on the fixed construction. Since January 2009 the 1 MWp solar plant built at 25 km on the East from Sofia (village Paunovo) has been connected to the grid. The PV modules are on the base of thin films amorphous silicon technology. The cost of the plant was about 4 mio EUR invested by Intersol. This plant will contribute towards the country's aim to provide 16% of its energy requirements from renewable sources by the year 2020.

Fig. 6. The first large PV installation, Zornitza, Bulgaria.

 
Sinosol Group has signed an exclusive agreement with the project developer Plovdiv Solar Ltd. about the turn-key construction of solar parks on a 330 ha ground near Lyubimets. The authorities and the utility company have already granted permission for a capacity of 50 MWp in the first phase. In a second stage this will be extended to a total size of approx. 80 MWp. The coherent project site was divided into several smaller units with 5 MWp each, for the realization of the PV parks. The 5 MWp parks are sold separately to institutional investors. Start of construction for the first project will be in the middle of 2009.

CYPRUS

Constant upswing in PV market allowed Cyprus to reach 2.19 MWp of the installed PV capacity in 2008. For the time being, in Cyprus there are 321 grid-connected systems with total power 1.6 MWp and 130 stand-alone systems with total power around 600 kWp. According to measurements of PV systems installed in many areas on Cyprus, 1 kW produces approx. 1500 kWh/year. Even though Cyprus has excellent solar irradiation, PV technology is not used on a large scale. The reason for that are the large initial cost and the relatively Iow efficiency of such systems. Government agents and investors perceive the investments in high power PV systems as economically disadvantaeous. In 2009 and 2010 the Energy Service of Cyprus is going to install 1 MWp of PV power on public premises (schools, army bases, government buildings). The budget for this project reaches 5 mio EURwith considerable contribution from the Structural and Cohesion Funds.

SLOVENIA

Slovenian PV market grew by more than 1 MWp in 2008 due to satisfactory support mechanism and advantageous natural conditions in the Slovenia. Trough the activities of the Slovenian PV platform and different promotional activities trough the media the interest for PV is constantly increasing. There were 57 new grid-connected PV plants put in operation in 2008, mainly installed on the roofs. The market is increasing every year by number of plants, investors and number of installers. The PV plants are becoming bigger, there are more than 10 plants over 60 kW. In 2008 the biggest PV plant was 100 kW and in early 2009 with the capacity of 220 kW. The investors are the energy supply companies. Due to the investment subsidy from regional found for RES projects, there is a big! increase of interest for PV plants between farmers, who normally have buildings with big roofs. For installation of PV on the roof the formal procedure is quite easy, without the construction permit. For ground PV installation a construction permit is normally requested.

HUNGARY

The Hungarian market grew moderately due to Iow feed in tariff. Some off-grid installations were made on motorways and rural electrification. Some on-grid systems were installed in private houses and on supermarkets.

MALTA

Malta relies on imported electricity and fossil fuels. PV installations is Malta have not yet picked up due to the existing barriers. Most installations are in the public sector as demonstration projects of PV technology. 21 systems from the public sector have the total of 76,5 kWp of installed capacity. Households with 17 systems account for 23,3 kWp and the industry and commercial sector altogether have about 120 kWp.

POLAND

Lack of feed-in tariffs and distrustful govemment's approach towards PV affect adversely the development of Polish PV sector. Due to this fact, on-grid sector remains sluggish with merely 179 kWp installed (mainly demonstration systems). However, off-grid sector runs well with 833 kWp.

ESTONIA, LATIVIA, LITHUANA

In Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) there was no much progress over2008. There were only few smali PV systems.

ROMANIA and SLOVAKIA

Romania and Slovakia with new incentive mechanism may get the push for renewable and solar PV and could make the one of the major PV markets within NMS. In case of Romania, it will be interesting to see how multiply green certificates works.