A study performed by the Joint Research Center of the European Commission has identified serious solar potential in Europe’s coal regions. According to the study, the transition to PV would also allow for similar full time employment equivalents as that of the coal industry.

Europe’s coal regions in transition (CRiT) boast 730.3 GW of photovoltaic potential, which could result in 874.3 TWh of production if tapped properly, whereas the generation capacity from the hard coal and lignite power plants operational in the EU had a total power capacity of just 152.5 GW in February 2019, according to PV Magazine.

Thereby, installing PV systems at scale in coal regions of Europe could outperform the old model of power generation. This is according to the findings of a new report published by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission titled Solar Photovoltaic Electricity Generation: A Lifeline for the European Coal Regions in Transition.