New member states of the EU are still at an initial stage of PV market development, for which dramatic leaps in the installed power capacity is observed. In 2008 there was remarkable growth in certain NMS like Czech Republic or Bulgaria, the rest of new member states saw moderate growth or even stagnancy of PV market. Key incentive still seems to be well designed feed-in tariff system, encouraging PV investors not like any other mechanism of support. Czech Republic is expected to remain the PV installation leader, and Bulgaria are to benefit from its generous feed-in tariff and considerable solar potential. Slovenian and Cyprus markets are developing with a steady pace. The other two potential countries are Slovakia with new FIT and Romania with multiply Green Certificates.

Unfortunately, in Hungary and Poland development is only in the off-grid systems. However in the decades to come PV sector is expected to evolve at rapid pace.

The environment, labour market and national budgets benefit enormously from PV market growth. Today's challenge is to reach higher penetration of PV, and make it a mainstream energy source. To spur market development not only legislative framework is necessary but also further progress in PV technologies. In order to unleash the potential of PV market it is important to bring the cost of solar energy for customers and cost of energy from the grid closer together. Moreover, this PV cost must be stable and reliable in the long run. Unfortunately, still long way ahead of NMS before they will be able to enjoy the grid parity in NMS since the cost of electricity is lower than in the EU-15.

Global financial crisis has impact on the entire economy. The bad economic times will be felt on the entire branch of PV market. Financial crisis affected the global economy hard. Plunging oil prices, complex procedures to take out any loan hit the industry sector. There is a chance that this situation will not dampen the market and on the contrary it is going to cause a breakthrough in the PV sector. Slashing of number of loans granted by the banks at the end of 2008 caused a slow down of a global demand on PV installations. As a result, module prices fall which is good news for the customers and an opportunity to become more independent from EU and national support schemes. Exploitation of solar energy will become economically sound when oil pricesgoupagain.

Those PV manufacturers who will survive the global decrease in demand and economic downturn in 2009, and maybe 2010, will havea bright future and infinite market potential ahead. There is also another advantage of global crisis as it raised awareness of societies that issues of global concern that are not being solved in a due time represent a real threat to all.

Photovoltaics is one of the key energy technologies of our low-carbon economy. It helps to combat climate change and improve the security of energy supply. In order to render PV a real alternative to other energy sources it is vital to combine a continuous policy support with industry – research cooperation. Unfortunately the awareness of PV power advantages is still insufficient among NMS' decision makers. Another obstacle is the state of the majority of transmission grids that still need to be modernised. To boost PV NMS market it is also vital to enhance cooperation between European energy regulators and between grid operators.

Rising concern about the relationship between energy and environment is at the heart of European Union policy making. EU regulations influence NMS legislations, but there is still long way ahead of them. Without proper legal framework, no further PV development can be made, but it is crucial that PV communities in each NMS monitor and evaluate the adopted measures. The stress shall be put on transparency, reliability and cohesion of law influencing PV sector in those countries.