Solar Energy Statistics 2026
By Axis Intelligence Research
Co-author: Aidan Jad | Last updated: July 20, 2026 | License: CC BY 4.0
Solar photovoltaics added more than 600 GW of new capacity in 2025 — the largest annual addition ever recorded for any energy technology — pushing total global installed solar capacity to approximately 2,800 GW and generating 2,778 TWh of electricity, equal to the entire electricity demand of the European Union. For the first time in over a century, renewables overtook coal in the global power mix, and solar drove three-quarters of that shift.
Quick Answer
Global solar PV capacity surpassed 2,800 GW by end-2025, per the IEA Global Energy Review 2026. Solar generated 2,778 TWh in 2025 — up 30% year-on-year — and met 75% of all new global electricity demand growth, according to Ember’s Global Electricity Review 2026. The global weighted-average LCOE for utility-scale solar stood at $0.043/kWh in 2024, a 90% cost reduction since 2010, per IRENA. The U.S. surpassed 6 million cumulative solar installations in Q1 2026. Solar PV employed 7.2 million people globally in 2024.
Key Findings
- Global solar capacity hit approximately 2,800 GW by end-2025, according to the IEA Global Energy Review 2026 — becoming the single largest installed power technology in the world, with 30 countries each adding over 1 GW in a single year.
- Solar generation reached 2,778 TWh in 2025, a 30% year-on-year increase and the largest single-year generation gain ever recorded for any electricity source outside of post-crisis rebounds, per Ember’s Global Electricity Review 2026.
- The global weighted-average LCOE for utility-scale solar PV was $0.043/kWh in 2024, making solar 41% cheaper than the least-cost fossil fuel alternative, with the lowest projects in China and India reaching $0.033–$0.038/kWh, per IRENA’s Renewable Power Generation Costs 2024.
- Solar PV employed 7.2 million people globally in 2024 — the largest workforce of any renewable technology, representing 43% of the 16.6 million total renewable energy jobs worldwide, per the IRENA/ILO Renewable Energy and Jobs Annual Review 2025.
- The U.S. surpassed 6 million cumulative solar installations in Q1 2026, with solar and storage together accounting for 91% of all new U.S. electricity capacity added that quarter, per SEIA and Wood Mackenzie’s Solar Market Insight Q2 2026.
Global Installed Solar Capacity
From Marginal to Dominant: The Fastest Energy Scale-Up in History
The trajectory of solar PV is without precedent in energy history. When the IEA published its first solar forecasts in the early 2000s, analysts expected solar to reach 1,000 GW of installed capacity globally sometime around 2040. The world crossed that threshold in 2022. It has since more than doubled. According to the IEA Global Energy Review 2026, solar PV capacity additions in 2025 surpassed 600 GW for the first time, bringing cumulative installed capacity to approximately 2,800 GW — making solar the single technology with the largest installed capacity globally, ahead of coal and natural gas.
IRENA’s March 2026 statistical release confirms global solar PV capacity at 2,392 GW as of end-2025, with 510.3 GW added during the year. The IEA figure of ~2,800 GW reflects additional estimates for markets where full-year reporting was not yet available at the time of IRENA’s publication. Both figures are based on primary data collection; Axis Intelligence uses the IEA estimate as the headline for headline recency and uses IRENA for country-level and regional breakdowns.
| Year | Global Solar Capacity (GW) | Annual Addition (GW) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | ~298 | — | IRENA |
| 2019 | ~592 | ~98 | IRENA |
| 2021 | ~849 | ~133 | IRENA |
| 2022 | ~1,053 | ~192 | IRENA |
| 2023 | ~1,570 | ~345 | IRENA |
| 2024 | ~1,882 | ~582 | IRENA / Ember |
| 2025 | ~2,800 (IEA) / 2,392 (IRENA preliminary) | >600 (IEA) / 510.3 (IRENA) | IEA GER 2026; IRENA Capacity Highlights 2026 |
Source: IRENA Renewable Capacity Highlights 2026 (March 31, 2026); IEA Global Energy Review 2026 (April 2026). Note: IEA 2025 figure includes estimates for markets where year-end data was not yet available at IRENA’s publication date.
Solar and wind together accounted for 96.8% of all net renewable capacity added in 2025 — the highest combined share ever recorded, per IRENA.
Country Rankings: Who Is Installing Solar at Scale
China’s dominance in solar deployment is the defining fact of the current energy transition. According to IRENA’s capacity data, China reached approximately 1,202 GW of cumulative installed solar capacity by end-2025 — more than half the global total — after adding approximately 315 GW in 2025 alone (IRENA March 2026 data), revised upward to approximately 370 GW in the IEA’s estimate which includes H2 2025 activity. The IEA’s Global Energy Review 2026 confirms that China alone commissioned nearly 370 GW of solar PV in 2025 — 13% higher than in 2024.
Outside Asia, the United States added 34 GW of solar capacity in 2025, per IRENA (with SEIA/Wood Mackenzie reporting 43.1 GWdc using direct-current measurement, reflecting a different measurement convention). Germany added 15.1 GW, and Brazil 11.6 GW — making Brazil the third-largest solar market outside Asia by annual additions.
India’s 2025 performance was exceptional: the IEA Global Energy Review 2026 reports that India’s annual renewable capacity additions increased by nearly 60% in 2025, the fastest growth among major markets, driven by the commissioning of almost 50 GW of solar PV — meaning India installed more new solar capacity than the United States for the first time on record.
| Country | Cumulative Capacity (end-2025, GW) | 2025 Additions (GW) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| China | ~1,202 | ~315–370 | IRENA / IEA |
| United States | ~196 | ~34 (AC) / 43.1 (DC) | IRENA / SEIA |
| India | ~127 | ~37–50 | IRENA / IEA |
| Germany | ~99 | ~15.1 | IRENA |
| Japan | ~90+ | ~5+ | IRENA |
| Spain | ~90 | ~14 | IEA |
| Brazil | ~52 | ~11.6 | IRENA |
| South Korea | ~40+ | ~3.7 | IRENA |
| Australia | ~40+ | ~5+ | IRENA |
Source: IRENA Renewable Capacity Statistics 2026 (March 2026); IEA Global Energy Review 2026 (April 2026). AC vs. DC convention differences account for U.S. figure discrepancy between IRENA and SEIA reporting.
Aidan Jad, Axis Intelligence: “The India milestone is the one that deserves more attention than it’s getting. India crossing the U.S. in annual solar additions is not a statistical quirk — it reflects a policy environment that cut permitting friction, combined with financing costs that have fallen materially as project scale increased. The structural question for India is whether its grid can absorb another 50 GW annually without the curtailment rates that have suppressed China’s effective output per installed GW.”
Regional Breakdown (End-2025, Renewable Capacity)
According to IRENA’s March 2026 data:
| Region | Total Renewable Capacity (GW) | Growth vs. 2024 | Primary Solar Driver |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asia | 2,891 | +21.6% | China (+440 GW total renewables), India |
| Europe | 934 | +9.0% | Germany, Spain, Italy |
| North America | 614 | +7.4% | United States |
| South America | 333 | +6.3% | Brazil |
| Middle East | 56 | +28.9% | Saudi Arabia (solar additions quadrupled to ~7 GW) |
| Africa | 82 | +15.9% | South Africa, Ethiopia, Egypt |
| Oceania | 76 | +8.6% | Australia |
Source: IRENA Renewable Capacity Highlights 2025 (March 31, 2026).
The Middle East’s 28.9% growth rate is the region’s highest on record, driven by Saudi Arabia’s solar program. Saudi Arabia’s solar PV additions quadrupled to nearly 7 GW in 2025, per the IEA. Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East each roughly doubled their renewable capacity additions in 2025 compared with 2024.
Solar Electricity Generation
2,778 TWh: Solar Overtakes Wind for the First Time
Solar generation crossed a milestone in 2025 that no forecaster predicted before 2030: it overtook wind power as a source of electricity for the first time in history. According to Ember’s Global Electricity Review 2026, global solar generation reached 2,778 TWh in 2025, a 636 TWh increase — the largest single-year generation gain ever recorded for any electricity source, excepting post-crisis coal rebounds. The IEA’s Global Energy Review 2026 confirms this figure at approximately 2,800 TWh with a 620 TWh increase.
Solar now accounts for approximately 8.7% of global electricity generation, up from roughly 3% in 2020 and under 1% in 2015.
| Year | Global Solar Generation (TWh) | YoY Increase (TWh) | Share of Global Electricity | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 256 | — | ~1.0% | Ember |
| 2020 | ~820 | — | ~2.7% | IEA |
| 2022 | 1,333 | — | ~4.3% | Ember |
| 2023 | ~1,600 | ~267 | ~5.0% | IEA |
| 2024 | ~2,142 | ~542 | ~7.0% | Ember / IEA |
| 2025 | 2,778 | 636 | ~8.7% | Ember GER 2026; IEA GER 2026 |
Source: Ember Global Electricity Review 2026 (April 2026); IEA Global Energy Review 2026 (April 2026).
One benchmark helps contextualize the scale: the 2,778 TWh solar generated in 2025 is approximately equal to the total electricity consumption of the European Union’s 27 member states. Solar met 75% of all net global electricity demand growth in 2025 — a figure that compresses the entire energy transition argument into a single statistic.
The Historic Milestone: Renewables Overtake Coal
For the first time since approximately 1919 — more than a century — renewables generated more electricity globally than coal. Ember’s Global Electricity Review 2026, which analyzed data from 215 countries, confirmed that renewables reached a 33.8% share of global electricity generation in 2025, surpassing coal at 33.0%. Solar drove this crossing. Fossil fuel generation fell by 38 TWh (-0.2%) in 2025 — the first structural decline (not driven by recession or pandemic) on record.
Solar generation growth also delivered a compounding effect in China and India simultaneously: fossil generation fell in both countries in 2025 — the first time this century that has occurred. In China, fossil generation fell by 56 TWh (-0.9%), the first decline since 2015. In India, fossil generation fell by 52 TWh (-3.3%), despite sustained economic growth.
IEA Forecast: Solar Adds 600+ TWh Every Year Through 2030
According to IEA Electricity 2026, solar and wind combined are forecast to rise from 17% of global electricity in 2025 to 27% by 2030. Solar alone is expected to contribute more than 600 TWh annually to this growth. Solar PV generation is forecast to overtake nuclear power in 2026 and hydropower by 2029, becoming the third-largest electricity source globally.
Aidan Jad, Axis Intelligence: “The IEA’s 600 TWh annual solar growth forecast is almost certainly conservative given what we saw in 2025. More significant is the 2026 overtake of nuclear: solar will generate more electricity than all nuclear plants combined for the first time, which matters for how policy makers frame the grid reliability debate. Solar is no longer competing with coal at the margin — it’s eating into baseload.”
The Axis Intelligence Solar Output Efficiency Index (SOEI™) — 2026 Original Metric
Raw capacity figures reveal where solar panels are being installed. They say nothing about how effectively those panels are working. A country could install 100 GW of solar and see limited generation gains if its grid can’t absorb the output, or if irradiance conditions are poor.
Axis Intelligence Research has developed the Solar Output Efficiency Index (SOEI™) to measure how efficiently major solar markets convert installed capacity into actual electricity generation, weighted by the role solar plays in each country’s overall electricity mix.
SOEI™ Formula:
SOEI = (Solar Generation TWh ÷ Installed Capacity GW) × Solar Share of Generation (%)
This produces a score that simultaneously captures:
- Capacity factor proxy: how many TWh each GW of installed solar actually produces
- Grid penetration: how large a role solar plays in the national electricity mix
A higher SOEI indicates a country is squeezing more real electricity out of each installed gigawatt and has integrated solar more deeply into its grid. A lower SOEI signals curtailment, grid absorption limits, or relatively low irradiance.
Inputs (all primary-source, 2025 data):
| Country | Solar Generation (TWh, 2025) | Installed Capacity (GW, end-2025) | Solar Share of Mix (%) | SOEI™ Score (/10) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| India | 230 | 127 | 8.3% | 10.0 |
| Brazil | 72 | 52 | 10.6% | 9.8 |
| United States | 354 | 196 | 8.1% | 9.7 |
| Spain | 64 | 90 | 20.2% | 9.6 |
| China | 1,375 | 1,202 | 9.2% | 7.0 |
| Germany | 71.7 | 99.2 | 12.4% | 6.0 |
Axis Intelligence Research, July 2026. Generation: Ember Global Electricity Review 2026; IEA GER 2026; national grid operators (REE/Spain, ANEEL/Brazil, EIA/U.S.). Capacity: IRENA Renewable Capacity Statistics 2026. Grid share: Ember GER 2026; IEA Electricity 2026. SOEI™ is an original Axis Intelligence Research metric not published by any primary institutional source. License: CC BY 4.0 with attribution.
What the SOEI reveals that no competitor publishes:
China’s extraordinary installed base masks a significant output efficiency gap. Despite accounting for over half of global solar capacity, China’s SOEI score (7.0/10) sits well below India (10.0), Brazil (9.8), the U.S. (9.7), and Spain (9.6). The primary driver is grid-level curtailment: in high-solar provinces such as Xinjiang and Gansu, significant shares of potential solar output are curtailed because transmission infrastructure has not kept pace with panel installation rates. This is a known structural challenge that the IEA has flagged in its China energy reviews.
Germany’s lower score (6.0/10) reflects a different constraint: latitude-driven lower irradiance means German panels produce fewer TWh per installed GW than panels in India or Brazil, even when accounting for the relatively high share of solar in Germany’s generation mix.
Spain stands out as the European efficiency leader: a 20.2% solar generation share combined with strong irradiance pushes its SOEI close to the top tier despite a relatively smaller installed base. Spain added 14 GW of solar capacity in 2025 — up 50% from 2024 — making it the second-largest EU solar market by new additions.
Solar Energy Costs (LCOE)
The 90% Cost Reduction That Redefined Energy Economics
No cost decline in the modern energy industry approaches the trajectory of solar PV. According to IRENA’s Renewable Power Generation Costs 2024 report (published July 2025), the global weighted-average levelized cost of electricity for utility-scale solar stood at $0.043/kWh in 2024 — a 90% decline from $0.460/kWh in 2010. Solar PV is now the second-cheapest source of new electricity generation globally, behind only onshore wind ($0.034/kWh), and 41% cheaper than the least-cost fossil fuel alternative.
In 2024, 91% of all newly commissioned utility-scale renewable capacity delivered electricity at a lower cost than the cheapest new fossil fuel-fired alternative, per IRENA.
| Technology | Global Avg. LCOE 2024 | Change vs. 2010 |
|---|---|---|
| Onshore wind | $0.034/kWh | −74% |
| Utility-scale solar PV | $0.043/kWh | −90% |
| Offshore wind | $0.075/kWh | −63% |
| New coal | $0.073/kWh (global avg.) | — |
| New CCGT (gas) | $0.085/kWh (global avg.) | — |
Source: IRENA Renewable Power Generation Costs 2024, published July 2025.
Regional Cost Divergence: The China-India-US Gap
The global average obscures a stark regional divide that matters for both investors and policymakers. The same IRENA report confirms:
- China: $0.033/kWh — the world’s lowest, driven by vertically integrated supply chains and domestic manufacturing overcapacity
- India: $0.038/kWh — the second-lowest globally, reflecting competitive auction design and large project scale
- United States: $0.070/kWh in 2024 — a significant increase from $0.059/kWh in 2023, driven by permitting delays, interconnection bottlenecks, and higher balance-of-system costs
- European Union: Solar LCOE increased in 2024 for similar reasons to the U.S.
The U.S. figure deserves context: net of the full IRA investment tax credit stack (which was operational through 2024), effective U.S. utility-scale solar costs were substantially lower than $0.070/kWh. However, the IRA tax credit structure has been partially modified under the 2025–2026 policy environment, and effective costs going forward are subject to ongoing policy uncertainty, as reflected in the SEIA 2026 Q2 data.
Total installed cost (TIC) for utility-scale solar globally fell 11% year-on-year in 2024 to $691/kW — an 87% decline from 2010, per IRENA.
Aidan Jad, Axis Intelligence: “The U.S. LCOE jumping 19% between 2023 and 2024 is not a technology story — it’s a permitting and interconnection story. IRENA’s data makes clear the panels themselves got cheaper. What got more expensive was everything around them: grid connections, land rights, and the time cost of a broken permitting process. The manufacturing side of the equation is solved. The regulatory side isn’t.”
Solar Investment
$1.9 Trillion in Clean Energy Investment Flowed in 2025
According to BloombergNEF’s Energy Transition Investment Trends 2026, global investment in the energy transition reached $2.1 trillion in 2025. Renewable energy (solar, wind, and other clean power) accounted for the largest single share. Solar captured the majority of renewable investment globally, with solar investment in H1 2025 alone reaching $252 billion — a record half-year total.
Note on BloombergNEF data access: BloombergNEF’s headline totals are published in press summaries; Axis Intelligence has verified the H1 2025 solar figure and the broader transition investment total from BloombergNEF’s press releases and cited industry reporting. The full dataset is subscription-gated. Axis Intelligence does not cite BloombergNEF behind a paywall as a verification substitute for primary data.
Renewables helped avoid $467 billion in fossil fuel costs in 2024, per IRENA’s cost report — a figure that reframes “clean energy subsidy” debates: the cost of continuing with fossil fuels now substantially exceeds the cost of deploying renewables.
Solar Employment
7.2 Million Jobs: Solar PV Is the Largest Renewable Employer
Solar PV employed 7.2 million people globally in 2024 — the largest workforce of any renewable energy technology, per the IRENA/ILO Renewable Energy and Jobs Annual Review 2025. This represents approximately 43% of the 16.6 million total jobs in renewable energy worldwide.
| Technology | Global Jobs (2024) | Share of Total Renewables |
|---|---|---|
| Solar PV | 7.2 million | ~43% |
| Liquid biofuels | 2.6 million | ~16% |
| Hydropower | 2.3 million | ~14% |
| Wind energy | 1.9 million | ~11% |
| Other | ~2.6 million | ~16% |
| Total renewables | 16.6 million | — |
Source: IRENA/ILO Renewable Energy and Jobs Annual Review 2025 (published January 2026).
Despite record capacity additions in 2024, employment growth slowed to just 2.3% — the weakest rate of job growth relative to installation growth on record. The IRENA/ILO report attributes this deceleration to automation in manufacturing, economies of scale in installation, and grid bottlenecks that delayed project completion.
Geographic Concentration of Solar Jobs
Solar employment is highly concentrated. China accounts for 58% of all global solar PV jobs — approximately 4.2 million — primarily in panel manufacturing. The top 10 solar-employing countries account for 82% of all solar jobs, and 75% of those are in Asian countries, per the IRENA/ILO Annual Review.
- United States: approximately 280,100 solar PV jobs in 2024 (IRENA/ILO; the U.S. Department of Energy tracks a broader solar employment figure of approximately 345,000 through its U.S. Energy and Employment Report methodology, which includes induced and supply-chain roles)
- India: approximately 384,900 jobs (304,300 grid-connected + 80,600 off-grid)
- European Union: approximately 764,400 jobs
- Brazil: a major employer in both installation and supply chain roles
The IRENA/ILO report notes that women hold 32% of full-time renewable energy roles — above oil and gas (23%) but below the overall global workforce average. Within solar manufacturing, senior management representation falls to approximately 19%.
Aidan Jad, Axis Intelligence: “The 2.3% employment growth figure against double-digit capacity growth is a preview of a structural shift. Robotic installation, module-level automation, and AI-assisted project design are starting to compress the labor content per MW significantly faster than prior cycles. This matters enormously for the just-transition narrative — installing more solar will not automatically create proportionally more jobs, and policymakers who plan workforce programs as if it will are working with the wrong model.”
United States Solar Market
2025: Policy Disruption, Engineering Resilience
The U.S. solar market in 2025 was characterized by engineering momentum colliding with regulatory uncertainty. According to SEIA and Wood Mackenzie’s Solar Market Insight 2025 Year in Review, the U.S. installed 43.1 GWdc of solar capacity in 2025 — a 14% decline from 2024 — driven primarily by tax credit deadline pressures and utility-scale project delays concentrated in Q4 2025.
| U.S. Solar Segment | 2025 Installed (GWdc) | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|
| Utility-scale | 34.7 | −16% |
| Residential | ~5.0 (est.) | −15% est. |
| Commercial | 2.3 | +6% |
| Community solar | 1.4 | −25% |
| Total | 43.1 | −14% |
Source: SEIA/Wood Mackenzie Solar Market Insight 2025 Year in Review (March 2026). GWdc = gigawatt direct-current.
Despite the decline in absolute volume, solar accounted for 54% of all new U.S. electricity-generating capacity added in 2025. Combined with battery storage, solar and storage together represented 79% of new U.S. power capacity — the highest share in history.
Q1 2026: Surpassing 6 Million Installations
The SEIA/Wood Mackenzie Q2 2026 Solar Market Insight confirms the U.S. added 7.8 GWdc of solar capacity in Q1 2026 — surpassing the milestone of 6 million cumulative solar installations, reached in 2026 just two years after the 5 million milestone. The U.S. reached its first million installations in 40 years; it added its most recent million in two years.
Solar and storage together accounted for 91% of all new U.S. electricity capacity installed in Q1 2026, as utilities and businesses sought energy security amid global gas turbine supply disruptions. Contracts for utility-scale solar rose 15% year-over-year in Q1 2026, fueled by tech companies securing power for AI-driven data center demand.
Q1 2026 by segment:
- Utility-scale: 5.9 GWdc (−34% YoY, −45% QoQ — reflecting typical Q1 seasonality)
- Residential: 1,179 MWdc (+6% YoY)
- Commercial: 523 MWdc (−4% YoY)
- Community solar: 247 MWdc (−4% YoY)
The residential market’s 6% year-on-year growth in Q1 2026 reflects overflow installations from late-2025 customers who initiated projects before the Section 25D tax credit expired at end-2025, boosting Q1 interconnection activity.
For context on the broader U.S. clean energy and EV transition, see Axis Intelligence’s EV Statistics 2026 and Nuclear Energy for Data Centers 2026.
The Axis Intelligence Solar Output Efficiency Index (SOEI™) — Detailed Methodology
Metric name: Solar Output Efficiency Index (SOEI™) First published: Axis Intelligence Research, July 20, 2026 Formula: SOEI = (Solar Generation TWh ÷ Installed Capacity GW) × Solar Share of Generation (%) Scale: Normalized to 0–10, where 10 = most efficient market in the comparison set
Input sources:
- Solar generation (TWh, 2025): Ember Global Electricity Review 2026 (primary); IEA Global Energy Review 2026; national grid operators (REE for Spain, ANEEL/ONS for Brazil, EIA for U.S., Fraunhofer ISE for Germany)
- Installed capacity (GW, end-2025): IRENA Renewable Capacity Statistics 2026 (March 2026)
- Solar share of generation (%, 2025): Ember Global Electricity Review 2026; IEA Electricity 2026
Interpretation: The SOEI measures the real-world productivity of solar deployment — how much electricity each installed GW actually delivers to the grid, weighted by how central solar has become to each country’s electricity supply. It does not measure total solar ambition, total capacity, or economic output. A country with extensive curtailment (China) or limited irradiance (Germany) scores lower not because of poor policy, but because physical and infrastructural constraints suppress actual output relative to nameplate capacity.
Limitations:
- Solar generation figures for 2025 in some markets are preliminary or estimated; national grid operator data has higher precision but is collected on different timelines
- The SOEI does not account for storage-enabled output smoothing, which increasingly affects effective solar productivity in markets with high storage penetration (U.S., Australia)
- Country comparisons are directionally robust but should not be used for precise bilateral comparisons within a few tenths of a point
- Axis Intelligence will update the SOEI quarterly alongside primary data releases
Methodology
Data collection: All statistics in this article are drawn from primary institutional sources: IEA, IRENA, Ember Energy, SEIA/Wood Mackenzie, and IRENA/ILO. No secondary aggregators, editorial tech publications, or paywalled databases without a publicly accessible citation path were used. Secondary coverage (PV Tech, PV Magazine) was used only to verify primary-source quotes and locate specific report sections; no statistics were sourced from secondary coverage alone.
Coverage period: Solar capacity and generation data covers 2025. IEA figures from Global Energy Review 2026 (April 2026) and Electricity 2026 (February 2026). IRENA capacity data from Renewable Capacity Statistics 2026 (March 2026). Ember data from Global Electricity Review 2026 (April 2026). LCOE data from IRENA Renewable Power Generation Costs 2024 (July 2025). Employment data from IRENA/ILO Annual Review 2025 (January 2026). U.S. market data from SEIA/Wood Mackenzie Q2 2026 (June 2026) and Year in Review 2025 (March 2026).
IEA vs. IRENA capacity discrepancy: IRENA’s March 2026 publication (2,392 GW) collected data earlier than the IEA’s April 2026 Global Energy Review (~2,800 GW). The gap reflects (a) different data collection cutoffs, (b) IEA estimates for markets where full-year 2025 data was not yet reported to IRENA, and (c) measurement differences for off-grid and distributed solar. Both figures are reported and attributed. Axis Intelligence uses the IEA figure for the headline (most recent estimate) and IRENA for country and regional breakdowns (more granular verification).
SOEI™ methodology: Described in full in the SOEI section above.
Limitations: Chinese provincial deployment data is not disaggregated in publicly available IRENA statistics. Employment figures lag capacity data by approximately 18 months. LCOE comparisons across regions are not directly comparable due to differences in project financing costs, irradiance, technology vintage, and incentive structures. Investment figures from BloombergNEF are partially behind a paywall; Axis Intelligence cites press releases and verified secondary reporting for these.
About This Dataset
Dataset title: Axis Intelligence Solar Energy Statistics 2026 Coverage: Global solar PV capacity (2016–2025), generation (2015–2025), LCOE (2010–2024), employment (2024), U.S. market quarterly data (2025–Q1 2026), SOEI™ (2026) Format: CSV (downloadable above and at the links below) License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) — reuse freely with attribution Issuing organization: Axis Intelligence Research DOI: To be registered upon first citation request Primary sources aggregated: IEA, IRENA, Ember Energy, SEIA/Wood Mackenzie, IRENA/ILO, national grid operators Dataset repositories: Available at Hugging Face, Kaggle, and GitHub
Researchers and journalists may use and republish this data freely with attribution. Contact [email protected] to request underlying data tables or to discuss do-follow citation agreements.
Citation Block
APA: Axis Intelligence Research & Aidan Jad. (2026, July 20). Solar Energy Statistics 2026: Capacity, Cost, Generation & Market Data. Axis Intelligence. https://axis-intelligence.com/solar-energy-statistics/
MLA: Axis Intelligence Research and Aidan Jad. “Solar Energy Statistics 2026: Capacity, Cost, Generation & Market Data.” Axis Intelligence, 20 July 2026, axis-intelligence.com/solar-energy-statistics/.
Chicago: Axis Intelligence Research and Aidan Jad. “Solar Energy Statistics 2026: Capacity, Cost, Generation & Market Data.” Axis Intelligence, July 20, 2026. https://axis-intelligence.com/solar-energy-statistics/.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much solar capacity exists globally in 2026?
By end-2025, global installed solar PV capacity reached approximately 2,800 GW according to the IEA Global Energy Review 2026, making solar the single largest installed power technology in the world. IRENA’s March 2026 statistical release confirmed 2,392 GW, with the difference reflecting different data collection timelines and IEA estimates for markets not yet fully reported. The world is on track to surpass 3,000 GW of solar capacity during 2026.
What percentage of world electricity comes from solar?
Solar PV generated 2,778 TWh of electricity globally in 2025, approximately 8.7% of total global electricity generation, per Ember’s Global Electricity Review 2026. The IEA projects solar and wind together will reach 27% of global electricity by 2030, with solar contributing more than 600 TWh of additional generation annually.
What is the cheapest solar energy cost today?
The global weighted-average LCOE for utility-scale solar was $0.043/kWh in 2024, per IRENA. The lowest projects globally, in China, reached $0.033/kWh; India’s best projects achieved $0.038/kWh. In the U.S., the LCOE rose to $0.070/kWh in 2024 before IRA tax credits, due to permitting delays and interconnection costs.
How many jobs does solar energy create?
Solar PV employed 7.2 million people globally in 2024 — the largest workforce of any renewable technology, per the IRENA/ILO Annual Review 2025. China alone accounts for 58% of solar PV jobs (approximately 4.2 million), primarily in manufacturing. The U.S. had approximately 280,100 solar PV jobs in 2024 per IRENA, with broader estimates near 345,000 under DOE methodology.
Which country has the most solar installed?
China leads by a large margin with approximately 1,202 GW of cumulative installed solar capacity as of end-2025 — more than half the global total — per IRENA. The United States is second (~196 GW AC), followed by India (~127 GW), Germany (~99 GW), Japan (~90+ GW), and Spain (~90 GW).
How much solar did the U.S. install in 2025?
The U.S. installed 43.1 GWdc of solar capacity in 2025 — a 14% decline from 2024 — driven by utility-scale project delays tied to tax credit deadline uncertainty, per SEIA and Wood Mackenzie. Solar still accounted for 54% of all new U.S. electricity capacity. In Q1 2026, the U.S. added 7.8 GW, surpassing 6 million cumulative solar installations.
Did India pass the U.S. in solar additions in 2025?
Yes. For the first time on record, India installed more new solar capacity than the United States in 2025. The IEA Global Energy Review 2026 reports India commissioned approximately 50 GW of solar PV in 2025, driven by a nearly 60% increase in total annual renewable capacity additions — the fastest growth rate among all major markets.
What is the Axis Intelligence SOEI™?
The Solar Output Efficiency Index (SOEI™) is an original metric developed by Axis Intelligence Research in July 2026. It measures how efficiently major solar markets convert installed capacity into actual electricity output, weighted by the role solar plays in each country’s national grid. The formula is: (Solar Generation TWh ÷ Installed Capacity GW) × Solar Share of Generation (%). India ranks first (10.0/10) and China last (7.0/10) among the six markets measured, reflecting grid curtailment and transmission constraints in China’s high-solar provinces.
Is solar growing faster than wind globally?
Yes. In 2025, solar added more than 600 GW globally versus approximately 160 GW for wind, per the IEA. Solar also overtook wind in electricity generation for the first time, reaching 2,778 TWh versus approximately 2,573 TWh for wind, per Ember. Solar met 75% of all net new global electricity demand growth in 2025, compared to wind’s share of approximately 24%.
What does “renewables overtaking coal” mean for solar?
For the first time since approximately 1919, renewables generated more electricity globally than coal in 2025, according to Ember’s Global Electricity Review 2026. Renewables reached a 33.8% share of global electricity, against coal at 33.0%. Solar was the primary driver: its 636 TWh increase in 2025 is the largest single-year generation gain ever recorded for any electricity source outside of post-crisis rebounds. Fossil fuel generation fell 0.2% — the first structural (non-recession) decline on record.
Last Updated
July 20, 2026. Next scheduled update: October 2026, aligned with Q3 2026 data releases from IEA, IRENA, and SEIA/Wood Mackenzie.