Solar PV capacity additions surged past 600GW globally in 2025, accounting for more than a quarter of total global energy demand growth and becoming the single largest contributor to new energy supply, according to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Global Energy Review 2025.
The demand was driven by record deployment in China, strong gains in India and the European Union, and continued cost competitiveness across major markets, the report said.
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Furthermore, the IEA data shows solar PV expansion increasing by around 12% year-on-year, lifting cumulative global installed capacity to approximately 2.8TW and cementing solar as the world’s largest installed power generation technology by capacity. More than 30 countries added over 1GW of solar PV in 2025, nearly double the number recorded in 2020, highlighting the accelerating geographical spread of deployment.
The record solar build-out came as global energy demand rose by 1.3% in 2025, while electricity consumption increased at more than twice that rate. Within that demand growth, solar PV alone contributed over 25% of the total increase in global energy supply – marking the first time a modern renewable source has led absolute global energy expansion.
According to the IEA, renewable sources and nuclear combined met close to 60% of global energy demand growth in 2025, with solar PV alone outpacing all other individual technologies. Natural gas followed as the second-largest contributor at 17%, but remained well behind solar in terms of incremental growth.
“Electricity consumption is growing much faster than overall energy demand – and one energy source is growing much faster than any other. Solar PV accounted for over a quarter of all of the world’s energy demand growth – more than any other source, for the first time – followed right after by natural gas,” said Fatih Bairol, executive director, IEA.
China dominates solar deployment surge
China remained the dominant force in global solar expansion, commissioning nearly 370GW of solar PV in 2025 – more than half of global additions. This represented a 13% increase on 2024 and was driven by developers accelerating projects ahead of regulatory changes, particularly the transition from fixed tariffs to competitive auctions introduced mid-year.
The policy shift triggered a first-half installation rush, followed by a slowdown in the latter half of 2025. Despite this volatility, China’s scale ensured it accounted for over 60% of global renewable capacity growth, reinforcing its position as the central driver of solar PV deployment worldwide.
Europe, India and emerging markets
According to the report, the European Union delivered its highest-ever annual solar PV additions in 2025, installing nearly 70GW out of a total 85GW of renewable capacity additions. Germany led regional deployment with 17GW, accounting for roughly a quarter of EU solar growth, while Spain added a record 14GW – up 50% year-on-year.
Several smaller markets also reached new highs, including France, Lithuania and Romania, reflecting continued policy support and grid-scale expansion across the bloc.
India emerged as the fastest-growing major solar market, installing close to 50GW of new PV capacity in 2025 – a near 60% increase in total renewable additions year-on-year. The growth was underpinned by utility-scale solar deployment, alongside smaller distributed installations contributing to system-wide expansion.
Beyond major economies, distributed solar continued to gain traction in emerging markets. Pakistan added approximately 10GW of solar PV in 2025, driven almost entirely by on- and off-grid distributed systems rather than utility-scale projects.
In the Middle East and North Africa, Saudi Arabia quadrupled solar additions to nearly 7GW, supported by large-scale procurement programmes and independent power producer (IPP) projects. Meanwhile, sub-Saharan Africa saw its solar build-out surpass 3GW in South Africa alone, contributing to a broader regional doubling of renewable additions.
Solar becomes structural driver despite challenges
The IEA report highlighted that the 600TWh increase in global solar generation in 2025 represented the largest single-year structural rise in electricity output from any generation technology in history. This surge contributed directly to a decline in coal-fired generation globally and reinforced solar’s role as the primary marginal source of new electricity supply.
Cumulative deployment of solar PV and other low-emissions technologies since 2019 has now displaced fossil fuel demand equivalent to the entire annual energy consumption of Latin America, the report noted.
Despite ongoing challenges including grid connection delays, permitting bottlenecks and supply chain pressures, solar PV remained the fastest-expanding power generation technology for the third consecutive year.
The IEA said solar’s continued cost competitiveness, combined with rapid scaling of manufacturing capacity and policy support in key markets, ensured it remained the dominant force in global energy expansion.
