World added about 690 gigawatts of solar power in 2025, up 15%
China installed 60% of the total, while a glut of panels kept manufacturers under financial pressure.
Countries installed about 690 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity in 2025, 15% more than the year before, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme.
That brought global cumulative capacity to 2.96 terawatts, enough in theory to generate about 3,845 terawatt-hours a year, or roughly 12% of world electricity consumption, the report said.
China installed 415 GW, 60% of the total. India followed with 54 GW, then the United States with 43 GW, Germany with 18 GW and Pakistan with 14 GW. The European Union added 68 GW combined, and 36 countries each installed more than 1 GW. Rooftop and other distributed systems reached a record 282 GW, and the report named Turkey, France, Japan and Australia among markets where distributed solar is driving growth.
The boom came alongside what the report's authors called a "significant industrial imbalance." Module production, at 722 GW, still outpaced installations, and factories face low utilization, falling prices and weak profits. China's share of module manufacturing fell to 79% from 86% as capacity grew in India and the United States.
The authors said curtailment, negative prices and grid bottlenecks are increasingly common in markets with heavy solar use, making storage, flexible demand and stronger grids essential. Annual battery storage additions across Europe, Canada and the United States rose from 2.9 gigawatt-hours in 2020 to almost 79 gigawatt-hours in 2025.
This brief is based on reporting by Patrick Jowett, published Sept. 28, 2026, by pv magazine. Read the original: https://www.pv-magazine.com/2026/09/28/global-solar-additions-hit-690-gw-in-2025/
This article was produced with the assistance of AI tools and reviewed by an editor before publication.
