Rapid growth outside Europe saw a total of about 32 GW of solar PV capacity installed, bringing capacity to 101 GW and narrowly pipping the 30 gigawatts taken up in 2011, the European Photovoltaic Industry Association said, citing preliminary figures.

"No one would have predicted even 10 years ago that we would see more than 100 GW of solar photovoltaic capacity in the world by 2012,” said EPIA President Winfried Hoffmann. “The photovoltaic industry clearly faces challenges but the results of 2012 show there is a strong global market for our technology.

Solar photovoltaic plants can now generate as much electricity in a year as about 16 mid-sized coal-fired or nuclear power stations, the lobby group said.

Australia added about 1 GW of solar PV capacity last year, lifting the country's capacity about 70 per cent to 2.4 GW, according to the Australian Solar Council.

The wholesale price of solar PV is now as low as 55 cents per watt of power in a PV module, down from an average of $7 in 2008, said John Grimes, chief executive of the Australian Solar Council.

The crash in solar PV prices has largely been prompted by Chinese producers flooding the market with low-cost panels. The expansion of the global market came even as new European capacity slumped amid subsidy cuts by governments.

Countries outside Europe added more than 13 GW of solar capacity last year, compared with less than 8 GW in 2011, driven by China, the US and Japan, the data show. Germany, home to a third of the world's solar panels, remained the biggest market after adding 7.6 GW, while Europe as a whole installed 17 gigawatts, down from 23 GW.

Wind power accelerates

In a separate statement, the Global Wind Energy Council said installed capacity expanded 19 per cent last year, with 44.7 GW of turbines built.

The total of new capacity beat the previous record 40.6 GW installed in 2011 by just over 10 per cent.

Figures for Australia show the country added 358 megawatts of new wind capacity, lifting the total by 16 per cent to 2.584 GW, the Council said.

A rush by wind farm developers in the US to beat an anticipated expiration of the US Production Tax Credit saw the country install more than 8 GW of capacity in the final three months of 2012 alone.

All up the US added 13.1 GW of capacity in 2012, leaving it just shy of the estimated 13.2 GW added by China.

“While China paused for breath, both the US and European markets had exceptionally strong years”, Steve Sawyer, Secretary General of the Global Wind Energy Council, said in a statement on the group's website. “Asia still led global markets, but with North America a close second, and Europe not far behind”.

Europe set a record with 12.4 GW of wind energy added, as markets such as Sweden, Romania, Italy and Poland posted quicker growth.

The outlook remains uncertain, though, as the region's on-going sovereign debt crises limits government support, the council said.

The region, though, continues to lead the market for offshore wind farms, with 1.166 GW added, accounting for more than 90 per cent of total offshore installations of 1.293 GW in 2012, the council said.

With Bloomberg