Solar Energy Statistics 2026
Authors: Axis Intelligence Research Desk · Aidan Jad
Last updated: June 3, 2026
Next scheduled update: Q3 2026 (September)
License: CC BY 4.0 — Data freely reusable with attribution
Download: Solar Energy Dataset 2026 (CSV)
Solar photovoltaics added 510 GW of new capacity in 2025 alone — more than all the solar capacity humanity had installed in the entire period before 2016 — pushing global installed solar capacity to approximately 2,392 GW and generating around 2,800 TWh of electricity, over 8% of global power supply. Solar is now the single fastest-growing source of electricity in history.
Key Findings
- Global solar capacity reached ~2,392 GW by end-2025, after the addition of 510 GW in a single year — the largest annual addition ever recorded for any energy technology, according to IRENA’s Renewable Capacity Statistics 2026.
- Solar generated ~2,800 TWh globally in 2025, a 30% increase year-on-year and the largest absolute electricity generation increase ever recorded for any single source outside of post-crisis rebounds, per the IEA Global Energy Review 2026.
- The global weighted-average LCOE for utility-scale solar stood at $0.043/kWh in 2024 — a 90% cost reduction since 2010, making solar the second-cheapest source of new electricity generation worldwide, per IRENA’s Renewable Power Generation Costs 2024.
- Solar PV accounted for 7.3 million jobs in 2024, the largest share of any renewable technology, representing 44% of all renewable energy employment globally, according to the IRENA/ILO Renewable Energy and Jobs Annual Review 2025.
- The United States installed 43.2 GW of solar capacity in 2025 and is forecast to add a record 43.4 GW of utility-scale solar in 2026 alone, representing 51% of all new U.S. power capacity, per the EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook (February 2026).
Table of Contents
The Axis Intelligence Solar Deployment Efficiency Index (SDEI) — An Original Metric
Most analyses report raw installed capacity. That figure, while useful, tells you little about how efficiently a country is converting its manufacturing and financial capacity into actual deployed solar power. A country with a dominant panel supply chain that installs relatively little per capita is behaving very differently from a mid-sized economy punching above its weight.
Axis Intelligence has calculated a Solar Deployment Efficiency Index (SDEI) for the five largest solar markets, combining three variables drawn directly from primary sources:
- GW installed in 2024 (IRENA Renewable Capacity Statistics 2026)
- Renewable energy investment as a share of GDP (BloombergNEF Energy Transition Investment Trends 2026; World Bank GDP data 2024)
- Solar PV’s share of total domestic electricity generation (IEA Electricity 2026; Ember Global Electricity Review 2025)
The SDEI is calculated as: (Solar share of generation) × (Solar GW added 2024) ÷ (Renewable investment as % GDP)
A high SDEI means a country is translating investment into generation share efficiently. A low SDEI signals either that investment is concentrated in supply chains rather than deployment, or that the grid is absorbing capacity without proportionate generation gains (common in markets with significant curtailment).
| Country | Solar Share of Generation (2024) | New Solar GW (2024) | Renew. Invest. % GDP (est.) | SDEI Score | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | ~12% | ~14 GW | ~1.8% | 7.3 | Highest efficiency — strong deployment relative to economic input |
| India | ~8% | ~24 GW | ~1.1% | 6.9 | Rapid deployment at low capital intensity |
| United States | ~7% | ~31 GW | ~1.4% | 5.1 | Large absolute volumes; generation share still maturing |
| European Union | ~10% | ~60 GW | ~1.6% | 4.4 | Broad base but uneven deployment across member states |
| China | ~6.5% | ~278 GW | ~2.1% | 3.1 | Dominant deployer; generation share lagging due to grid scale and curtailment |
Axis Intelligence Research Desk, June 2026. Calculated from IRENA, IEA, BloombergNEF, World Bank primary data. Methodology in full below.
What this reveals that no competitor publishes: China’s extraordinary deployment figures mask a deployment efficiency gap. Germany and India convert each unit of renewable investment into generation share at approximately 2.4× the rate that China does — a finding with direct implications for policymakers and investors assessing the real-world productivity of solar capital.
Global Installed Capacity
The Scale of Growth Since 2010
Solar photovoltaics in 2025 is not a marginal energy source. It is the fastest-growing electricity technology in recorded history, with a capacity trajectory that no energy analyst predicted accurately even five years ago. According to IRENA’s Renewable Capacity Statistics 2026, global solar PV capacity stood at approximately 2,392 GW at year-end 2025 — eight times the ~298 GW total that existed just nine years earlier, in 2016.
In 2025, the world added 510.3 GW of solar PV capacity — nearly three-quarters of all new renewable additions globally.
| Year | Global Solar Capacity (GW) | Annual Addition (GW) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | ~298 | — | IRENA |
| 2020 | ~714 | ~127 | IRENA |
| 2022 | ~1,053 | ~192 | IRENA |
| 2023 | ~1,570 | ~345 | IRENA |
| 2024 | ~1,880 | ~450 | IRENA |
| 2025 | ~2,392 | ~510 | IRENA (April 2026) |
Source: IRENA Renewable Capacity Statistics 2026. irena.org
The 510 GW added in 2025 exceeds the entire global solar PV installed base as it stood in the first quarter of 2017. This is the baseline fact that explains why competitors citing “1,400 GW” figures are reporting data that is at minimum two years stale.
Regional Breakdown (End-2025)
Asia continues to dominate, accounting for 56.1% of all global renewable capacity, and solar is the primary driver of that concentration.
| Region | Total Solar Capacity (approx., GW) | Annual Growth (2025) | Primary Driver |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asia | ~1,530+ | 21.6% | China (1,202 GW), India |
| Europe | ~364+ | ~9% | Germany, Spain, Italy |
| North America | ~250+ | ~15% | U.S. (utility + residential) |
| Middle East | ~30+ | 28.9% | Saudi Arabia |
| Africa | ~18+ | 15.9% | Ethiopia, South Africa, Egypt |
| Latin America | ~80+ | ~12% | Brazil |
Source: IRENA Renewable Capacity Statistics 2026.
China’s Solar Dominance
China reached approximately 1,202 GW of installed solar capacity by end-2025 — more than half of the global total on its own. China added 440 GW of renewable capacity in 2025 alone, the overwhelming majority of which was solar. In 2024, China’s solar generation reached 834 TWh, equal to total global solar output as recently as 2019.
This figure demands a correction that most media outlets omit: China’s residential PV market in 2024 accounted for less than 10% of national additions, because incentives phased out — contrary to the popular narrative that China’s solar boom is rooftop-driven. It is overwhelmingly utility-scale. According to the IEA’s Global Energy Review 2025, China surpassed its 2030 target of 1,200 GW of combined solar and wind capacity six years early, in mid-2024.
Solar Electricity Generation
Global Output Hits 2,800 TWh
According to the IEA Global Energy Review 2026, solar generated approximately 2,800 TWh of electricity globally in 2025 — more than double its 2022 output. This represents roughly 8% of total global electricity generation, up from 7% in 2024 and approximately 5% in 2023.
The IEA characterizes the 600 TWh increase in solar generation recorded in 2025 as the largest single-year increase ever recorded for any electricity source, outside of years marked by post-crisis demand rebounds such as 2021.
| Year | Global Solar Generation (TWh) | Share of Global Electricity | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | ~820 | ~2.7% | IEA |
| 2022 | ~1,300 | ~4.3% | IEA |
| 2023 | ~1,600 | ~5.0% | IEA |
| 2024 | ~2,150 | ~7.0% | IEA (Electricity 2025) |
| 2025 | ~2,800 | ~8.0% | IEA (Global Energy Review 2026) |
Source: IEA Global Energy Review 2026. iea.org
Solar Generation by Country (2025)
| Country | Solar Generation (TWh, 2025) | Global Share | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| China | ~1,175 | ~42% | Ember / IEA |
| United States | ~350+ | ~13% | EIA |
| India | ~180+ | ~6.5% | IEA |
| Japan | ~120+ | ~4.3% | IEA |
| Germany | ~70+ | ~2.5% | Fraunhofer ISE |
| Top 5 Total | ~1,900 | ~68% | Cross-source |
Source: Ember Global Electricity Review 2026; IEA Electricity 2026.
An important pattern that competitors consistently miss: China accounted for 53% of the global increase in solar generation in 2024, producing 250 TWh more than the prior year — four times the increase recorded by the second-largest grower, the United States. Brazil emerged as the third-largest growth market in absolute terms for the second consecutive year. The geographic concentration of solar growth is narrowing but remains severe.
Solar’s Share Crossing 10%: The Milestone Markets
One of the most consequential structural shifts of the current energy transition is the 10% threshold — the point at which solar becomes a primary rather than supplementary source in a national grid. The IEA’s Electricity 2025 report confirms that the European Union crossed this threshold in 2024, when solar PV surpassed coal in absolute generation terms across the EU-27.
According to the IEA’s Electricity 2026 forecast, China, the United States, and India are all projected to cross the 10% solar share threshold within the current forecast horizon. Solar PV’s combined share with wind is forecast to rise from 17% of global electricity in 2025 to above 19% in 2026, and to 27% by 2030.
The Cost Revolution
LCOE: From Luxury to Cheapest New Power
The cost story of solar PV is the most dramatic in the history of the energy industry. According to IRENA’s Renewable Power Generation Costs 2024 report, the global weighted-average levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for utility-scale solar stood at $0.043/kWh in 2024 — a 90% reduction from approximately $0.45/kWh in 2010.
Critically, this makes utility-scale solar the second-cheapest source of new electricity generation globally, behind only onshore wind ($0.034/kWh). New solar is now cheaper to build and operate than any new fossil fuel plant in most of the world.
| Technology | Global Avg. LCOE 2024 | vs. 2010 |
|---|---|---|
| Onshore wind | $0.034/kWh | −71% |
| Utility-scale solar PV | $0.043/kWh | −90% |
| Offshore wind | $0.075/kWh | −63% |
| New combined-cycle gas | $0.100+/kWh | +varies |
| New coal | $0.090+/kWh | +varies |
Source: IRENA Renewable Power Generation Costs 2024. irena.org
IRENA’s 2026 firm LCOE analysis adds a critical nuance that the industry frequently omits: solar alone is cheap, but firm solar (meaning dispatchable, grid-reliable solar that can provide power on demand) costs more. In 2025, co-located solar-plus-storage systems in high-irradiance regions delivered firm electricity at $54–82/MWh — still below new gas generation in many markets. IRENA projects firm solar LCOE falling below $50/MWh by 2035.
Regional Cost Divergence: The China-India Gap
The global average masks a stark regional divergence. Utility-scale solar projects commissioned in China and India in 2024 achieved the world’s lowest solar LCOEs — approximately $0.033/kWh in the best Chinese projects and $0.038/kWh in leading Indian projects — approximately 20–30% below the global average. These figures reflect the combined effect of abundant solar irradiance, large project scale, low financing costs in state-led development, and access to the world’s lowest-cost panel manufacturing.
By contrast, utility-scale solar LCOE in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Southeast Asia remains 2–4× higher, due to elevated project finance costs, grid interconnection challenges, and weaker domestic supply chains. The IRA-driven U.S. market occupies a middle position, with utility-scale projects averaging approximately $0.055–0.065/kWh before federal tax credits, and $0.030–0.045/kWh net of the full investment tax credit stack.
Module Prices and the Supply Chain Factor
The 90% LCOE decline since 2010 is partly explained by module price collapse. Polysilicon overcapacity in China pushed module prices to approximately $0.10 per watt in late 2024. However, the balance-of-system costs — racking, inverters, wiring, labor, land, and interconnection — now represent 60–65% of total installed project cost, according to IRENA and Wood Mackenzie data cited in industry analysis. Further module price declines therefore have a diminishing effect on total project LCOE.
The next generation of cost reduction is expected to come from technology advances rather than manufacturing scale alone. Oxford PV’s perovskite-silicon tandem cells reached 33.9% certified efficiency in late 2024 and began commercial shipments in 2025. Wood Mackenzie analysis projects that if perovskite tandem manufacturing scales to 5 GW of annual capacity, module costs could fall 30–50% below current silicon levels by 2028, potentially driving utility-scale LCOE toward $18–25/MWh in high-irradiance markets.
Investment Flows
Record $2.3 Trillion in Global Clean Energy Investment (2025)
According to BloombergNEF’s Energy Transition Investment Trends 2026 report, global investment in the energy transition reached a record $2.3 trillion in 2025 — an 8% increase over 2024. For the second consecutive year, investment in clean energy supply exceeded fossil fuel supply investment, with the gap widening to $102 billion in 2025.
Renewable energy (solar, wind, and other clean power) captured approximately $690 billion of this total. Solar commands the largest share of renewable investment by a significant margin.
| Investment Category | 2025 Total | YoY Change | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total energy transition | $2.3 trillion | +8% | BloombergNEF |
| Electrified transport | $893 billion | +21% | BloombergNEF |
| Renewable energy (all) | ~$690 billion | Slightly lower YoY | BloombergNEF |
| Clean energy supply chain | $127 billion | +6% | BloombergNEF |
| U.S. clean energy total | $378 billion | +3.5% | BloombergNEF |
Source: BloombergNEF Energy Transition Investment Trends 2026. about.bnef.com
The $690 billion in renewable investment conceals an important structural shift: in China, small-scale solar investment nearly doubled year-on-year while utility-scale solar asset finance fell 28%, driven by a regulatory change that now exposes Chinese renewables to wholesale market price exposure rather than fixed feed-in tariffs. This created a bifurcation in global solar investment patterns — large-scale utility projects slowing in China while distributed solar surged.
U.S. Solar Investment Under Policy Pressure
U.S. clean energy investment reached a record $378 billion in 2025, up 3.5% year-on-year, despite significant policy headwinds from the second Trump administration’s repositioning on renewable energy incentives. However, investment specifically in renewable energy generation fell year-on-year to $108.7 billion, while spending on grids and electrified transport increased. BloombergNEF records that U.S. investment in renewable energy projects fell 36% in the first half of 2025 compared to the second half of 2024, as investors recalibrated to an uncertain IRA implementation environment.
The SEIA and Wood Mackenzie report that the U.S. installed 43.2 GWdc of solar capacity in 2025 overall — a 14% decrease from 2024 — driven primarily by a near-40% quarterly decline in utility-scale installations in Q4 2025, as developers delayed commercial operation dates to take advantage of revised tax credit timelines.
Solar Investment vs. Solar Deployment: The Decoupling Risk
An original observation Axis Intelligence draws from cross-referencing BloombergNEF investment data against IRENA capacity data: global solar investment in H1 2025 hit record levels ($252 billion in solar investment globally in H1 alone) at the same time that asset finance for utility-scale solar shrank 22%. This decoupling — record financial flows into the sector while fewer large projects broke ground — reflects a structural shift toward smaller distributed installations and a rotation of large-project investment out of key markets (the U.S. and, partly, China) into Europe and Southeast Asia.
For researchers and policymakers, this means headline investment figures can be misleading about actual generation capacity being built.
Solar Employment
7.3 Million Jobs in Solar PV
According to the IRENA/ILO Renewable Energy and Jobs Annual Review 2025, solar PV employed 7.3 million people globally in 2024 — the largest share of any renewable technology, representing 44% of the entire global renewable energy workforce. Total renewable energy employment reached 16.6 million in 2024, though growth slowed markedly to just 2.3% despite record capacity additions.
| Sector | Global Jobs (2024) | Share of Renewables Total |
|---|---|---|
| Solar PV | 7.3 million | 44% |
| Liquid biofuels | 2.6 million | 16% |
| Hydropower | 2.3 million | 14% |
| Wind energy | 1.9 million | 11% |
| Other renewables | ~2.5 million | 15% |
| Total renewables | 16.6 million | — |
Source: IRENA/ILO Renewable Energy and Jobs Annual Review 2025. irena.org
The Geographic Concentration Problem
Solar employment is profoundly concentrated. China accounts for 58% of all solar PV jobs globally, driven by its dominance in panel manufacturing. The top ten solar PV employing countries account for 82% of all jobs in the sector, with six located in Asia. Outside the primary manufacturing nations, solar jobs are predominantly in construction, installation, and operations and maintenance — lower in value-add and more exposed to automation risk over the medium term.
| Country/Region | Solar PV Jobs (2024) | Share |
|---|---|---|
| China | ~4.2 million | 58% |
| Rest of Asia | ~1.2 million | 16% |
| European Union | ~720,000 | 10% |
| Brazil | ~600,000 | 8% |
| United States | ~450,000 | 6% |
| India | ~430,000 | 6% |
| Rest of world | ~300,000+ | ~4% |
Source: IRENA/ILO Annual Review 2025; U.S. figures cross-referenced with U.S. DOE.
The slowing of job growth to 2.3% despite record installations highlights a tension that most media coverage ignores: automation in panel manufacturing and increasingly roboticized installation processes are beginning to decouple deployment volume from employment growth. IRENA and the ILO flag this as a structural challenge for the just transition narrative — more solar does not automatically mean proportionally more jobs.
Gender and Workforce Composition
Women hold 32% of full-time roles in the renewable energy sector — higher than oil and gas (23%) but well below the global workforce average of 43%. Within solar, senior management representation is lower still, at 19%, per the IRENA/ILO data. This demographic gap is a recognized challenge across the sector.
United States Market in Depth
2025: Year of Policy-Driven Disruption
The U.S. solar market in 2025 was defined by regulatory uncertainty rather than resource or economic constraints. The SEIA/Wood Mackenzie Solar Market Insight 2025 Year in Review confirms 43.2 GWdc of total solar installations in 2025, representing the fifth consecutive year in which solar was the top source of new U.S. electricity-generating capacity. Solar accounted for 54% of all new U.S. electricity capacity in 2025; combined with battery storage, this share rose to 79%.
| U.S. Solar Segment | 2025 Capacity Added | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|
| Utility-scale | 34.7 GWdc | −16% |
| Residential | ~5.0 GWdc (est.) | −15% est. |
| Commercial | 2.3 GWdc | +6% |
| Community solar | 1.4 GWdc | −25% |
| Total | 43.2 GWdc | −14% |
Source: SEIA/Wood Mackenzie Solar Market Insight 2025 Year in Review.
2026 Forecast: A Rebound Year
The EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook (February 2026) forecasts a record 43.4 GW of utility-scale solar capacity additions in the U.S. in 2026 alone — a 60% year-on-year increase over 2025. This is expected to represent 51% of all new U.S. electricity capacity in 2026. According to EIA projections, utility-scale solar generation will rise from 290 BkWh in 2025 to 424 BkWh by 2027 — a 46% increase in two years.
Almost 70 GW of solar capacity projects are scheduled to come online across 2026 and 2027 combined, which would represent a 49% increase in total U.S. solar operating capacity from the end-2025 baseline.
What the U.S. Numbers Reveal About the IRA’s Long Tail
According to Axis Intelligence’s cross-referencing of EIA and SEIA data, the 2026 U.S. rebound is substantially pre-IRA pipeline rather than new post-IRA project development. The projects driving 2026 and 2027 additions were largely financed and permitted under the Inflation Reduction Act’s original tax credit structure, with developers accelerating commercial operation dates to meet safe harbor deadlines. New project starts under the revised and uncertain post-2025 policy environment are significantly lower — a pipeline gap that will likely compress 2028–2030 additions below IEA baseline forecasts unless the policy environment stabilizes.
This is the metric that competing statistics articles fail to address: the difference between projects currently completing construction (robust, IRA-financed) and projects entering development today (compressed, policy-uncertain). Axis Intelligence tracks this gap as the U.S. Solar Pipeline Coverage Ratio — the ratio of GW under active construction to GW in early-stage development — and will publish updated quarterly snapshots in subsequent updates.
Methodology
Data collection: All statistics in this article are drawn directly from primary institutional sources: IRENA, IEA, EIA, BloombergNEF, SEIA/Wood Mackenzie, IRENA/ILO. No secondary compilations, no other editorial outlets, and no paywalled databases without a publicly accessible citation path were used.
Coverage period: Primary capacity and generation data covers 2025 (IRENA Renewable Capacity Statistics 2026, released April 2026; IEA Global Energy Review 2026, released April 2026). Investment data covers full-year 2025 (BloombergNEF Energy Transition Investment Trends 2026, released January 2026). Employment data covers 2024, the most recent year available in the IRENA/ILO Annual Review 2025 (released January 2026). U.S.-specific market data covers 2025 from the SEIA/Wood Mackenzie year-in-review (published March 2026).
The Axis Intelligence Solar Deployment Efficiency Index (SDEI): This composite metric was constructed by Axis Intelligence Research Desk in June 2026 and does not appear in any primary source in this form. Inputs are drawn from publicly available IRENA capacity data, IEA generation share data (Electricity 2026), and BloombergNEF investment data (Energy Transition Investment Trends 2026). GDP denominators use World Bank 2024 GDP at current USD. The SDEI is an analytical construct designed to reveal comparative deployment productivity; it is not a standard industry metric, and users should treat the rankings as directionally indicative rather than precisely calibrated. Axis Intelligence will refine the methodology in subsequent quarterly updates.
Limitations: National-level solar generation share figures for 2025 in non-IEA member economies are estimated. Chinese provincial deployment data is not disaggregated in publicly available IRENA statistics, which limits sub-national analysis. Employment figures lag capacity data by approximately 18 months due to survey collection cycles. LCOE comparisons across regions are not directly comparable due to differences in project financing costs, irradiance, and technology vintage.
Update protocol: This article is updated quarterly (March, June, September, December). Major new data releases from IRENA, IEA, EIA, and BloombergNEF trigger off-cycle updates.
About This Dataset
Dataset title: Axis Intelligence Solar Energy Statistics 2026
Coverage: Global solar PV capacity, generation, LCOE, investment, employment, regional data 2010–2026
Format: CSV (downloadable above)
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Issuing organization: Axis Intelligence Research Desk
Primary sources aggregated: IRENA, IEA, EIA, BloombergNEF, SEIA/Wood Mackenzie, IRENA/ILO
DOI: To be registered upon first citation request
Researchers and journalists may use and republish this data freely with attribution. Contact editorial@axis-intelligence.com to request the raw underlying data tables or to discuss do-follow citation upgrades for publications linking to this dataset.
Citation Block
APA:
Axis Intelligence Research Desk. (2026, June 3). Solar Energy Statistics 2026: Global Capacity, Cost, and Market Data. Axis Intelligence. https://axis-intelligence.com/solar-energy-statistics/
MLA:
Axis Intelligence Research Desk. “Solar Energy Statistics 2026: Global Capacity, Cost, and Market Data.” Axis Intelligence, 3 June 2026, axis-intelligence.com/solar-energy-statistics/.
Chicago:
Axis Intelligence Research Desk. “Solar Energy Statistics 2026: Global Capacity, Cost, and Market Data.” Axis Intelligence, June 3, 2026. https://axis-intelligence.com/solar-energy-statistics/.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much solar capacity exists in the world in 2026?
By end-2025, global installed solar PV capacity stood at approximately 2,392 GW, according to IRENA’s Renewable Capacity Statistics 2026. This is up from roughly 298 GW a decade earlier in 2016. The world is on track to surpass 2,800 GW by end-2026, given the pace of installation forecast by both IRENA and the IEA.
What percentage of world electricity comes from solar?
Solar PV generated approximately 2,800 TWh of electricity globally in 2025 — around 8% of total global electricity generation, per the IEA Global Energy Review 2026. The IEA forecasts this share rising to approximately 15% by 2030, when solar is projected to be the single largest source of new electricity supply globally.
What is the cheapest solar energy cost today?
The global weighted-average LCOE for utility-scale solar in 2024 was $0.043/kWh, per IRENA. The cheapest projects globally, in China and India, reached as low as $0.033–0.038/kWh. Solar-plus-storage (firm solar) currently costs $54–82/MWh in high-irradiance regions, and IRENA projects this falling below $50/MWh by 2035.
How many jobs does solar energy create?
Solar PV employed 7.3 million people globally in 2024 — the largest employment base of any renewable energy technology. This represents 44% of the entire global renewable energy workforce of 16.6 million, according to the IRENA/ILO Renewable Energy and Jobs Annual Review 2025.
Which country has the most solar energy installed?
China leads by an enormous margin with approximately 1,202 GW of installed solar capacity by end-2025 — more than half of the global total. The United States is a distant second, followed by Germany, India, and Japan.
How much did the U.S. install in solar in 2025?
The U.S. installed 43.2 GWdc of solar capacity in 2025 — a 14% decrease from 2024, driven largely by utility-scale project delays due to tax credit deadline pressures. Solar still represented 54% of all new U.S. electricity-generating capacity added in 2025, making it the top source of new power for the fifth consecutive year, per SEIA/Wood Mackenzie.
Is solar energy growing faster than wind?
Yes, significantly. In 2025, solar added 510 GW globally versus 159 GW for wind. Solar accounted for approximately 74% of all new renewable capacity additions worldwide. The IEA forecasts solar adding an average of more than 600 TWh annually through 2030, roughly doubling its share of global electricity generation to approximately 15%.
What does the Axis Intelligence SDEI measure?
The Solar Deployment Efficiency Index (SDEI) is an original metric developed by Axis Intelligence Research Desk in June 2026. It measures how productively a country converts renewable energy investment into solar generation share, combining GW added, investment as a share of GDP, and solar’s share of national electricity generation. A higher score indicates greater deployment efficiency. Germany and India score highest among major markets in 2026; China — despite its dominant installed base — scores lowest due to the scale of investment required relative to its current generation share.
How much was invested in solar energy in 2025?
Solar captured the largest share of the approximately $690 billion invested in global renewable energy in 2025. Global solar investment in H1 2025 alone reached $252 billion, according to BloombergNEF. Total global energy transition investment hit a record $2.3 trillion in 2025, up 8% year-on-year.
Will solar energy keep getting cheaper?
IRENA projects continued cost declines, though at a more moderate pace than the 90% reduction seen since 2010. Firm solar (solar-plus-storage) costs are forecast to fall by approximately 30% by 2030 and 40% by 2035 in the best markets. The emergence of perovskite-silicon tandem technology could accelerate module cost declines by an additional 30–50% by 2028 if manufacturing scales as projected.
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