IEA PVPS publishes its 2026 Trends report
The world installed about 692 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity in 2025, 15% more than in 2024. That brings the global total to 2.96 TW.
Those are the headline numbers of 'Trends in Photovoltaic Applications 2026', the 34th edition of the annual market survey by the International Energy Agency Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (IEA PVPS). The full report is free to download from the IEA PVPS website, and we recommend it to anyone who builds, finances, or operates solar assets.
Key takeaways
- Global PV capacity reached 2.96 TW at the end of 2025, after a record 692 GW of new installations.
- China installed 415 GW, or 60% of the global total. India added 54 GW and the United States about 43 GW.
- Europe added 79 GW, broadly the same as in 2024. Utility-scale growth made up for slower distributed markets.
- Solar capture rates in France, Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands fell from over 100% in 2018 to below 60% by 2025.
- Annual battery energy storage system (BESS) additions in Europe and the US combined rose from 2.9 GWh in 2020 to 79 GWh in 2025.
From adding capacity to using it well
The report's main conclusion is that PV has moved into a new phase. The installed base could in theory generate around 3,845 TWh a year, equal to about 12% of global electricity consumption. At that scale, the question shifts from how much we can build to how well the system can use it.
The pressure points will sound familiar to asset owners. Curtailment, negative prices, falling capture prices, and grid-connection constraints are increasingly visible in high-penetration markets. In Germany, roughly a quarter of solar generation now occurs during negative-price periods. In the US, both system-wide curtailment and local curtailment from transmission congestion are becoming more relevant.
Storage is growing fast in response, and the report treats it as one flexibility option next to flexible demand, stronger networks, and better forecasting. It also covers the manufacturing side: global module manufacturing capacity reached 1,531 GW per year, while actual production was 722 GW. That gap keeps prices and manufacturer margins under pressure.
What the report says about our event markets
We host events in many of the markets the report covers. These are the numbers that stood out to us for the markets on our upcoming events calendar.
| Market | 2025 in numbers | What stands out |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 43 GW added, 266 GW in total | A slight decline from the 2024 record. Around 80% of new capacity was utility-scale. |
| Germany | 18 GW added, 118 GW in total | A 2025 reform withholds the market premium after one hour of negative prices, down from six. |
| The Netherlands | 1.9 GW added, 28.6 GW in total | Second worldwide in capacity per capita at 1,584 W, while the annual market fell from 3.4 GW in 2024. |
| South Africa | 3.4 GW added, 12.1 GW in total | Africa's largest market and its most developed for corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs). Rooftop PV reached 8.5 GW. |
| Sweden, Finland, and Norway | 0.7 GW, 0.4 GW, and 0.1 GW added | Sweden leads the three with 5.8 GW in total. Regional grid constraints still affect projects in parts of Norway. |
| Baltics | Lithuania: 1.1 GW added, 3.1 GW in total | Lithuania and Estonia are both above 1,000 W of PV per capita. |
| Bulgaria and Ireland | Each between 1.0 GW and 1.4 GW added | Utility-scale is a key driver in Bulgaria. Ireland now links new data center connections to generation or storage capacity. |
| China | 415 GW added, 1,464 GW in total | China also produced 79% of the world's PV modules. |
Across the European Union (EU), utility-scale projects grew from under 40% of the annual market in 2023 to 54% in 2025. For Czechia, the report notes developing corporate PPA activity.
Download the full report
The numbers above are a small slice of what's in there. The full report covers policy frameworks, tender and PPA prices, system costs, manufacturing, and grid integration, with country data going back to 1992. PV supported an estimated 8.2 million jobs and around $400 billion USD in market activity in 2025, so there is something in it for every part of the value chain.
Download 'Trends in Photovoltaic Applications 2026' for free on the IEA PVPS website.
Source: IEA PVPS, 'Trends in Photovoltaic Applications 2026', Report IEA-PVPS T1-50:2026.
