January 13, 2012. New solar capacity around the world increased 54 percent to about 28 gigawatts last year driven by record installations in Germany and Italy. Photovoltaic installations rose to between 26.5 and 29.4 gigawatts last year, compared with 18.2 gigawatts during 2010. European governments from the Germany to Italy and the U.K. are curbing subsidies as prices for PV panels decline, aiming to choke off a boom in installations that started after they offered feed-in tariffs giving above-market rates for electricity from low-carbon sources. Solar installations grew around the world, driven by crashing panel prices. Shares of solar companies led by First Solar Inc. and Suntech Power Holdings Co. declined because of oversupply and declining margins. New spending on solar energy jumped 36 percent to $136.6 billion in 2011, outpacing the $74.9 billion put into wind power, and represented almost half of all renewable energy investment worldwide last year. Those figures also include solar thermal facilities, which use mirrors to heat fluid that turns turbines.