Snapshot of
Global PV Markets
2025
Task 1 Strategic PV Analysis and Outreach
P
V
P
S
Task 1 Strategic PV Analysis and Outreach – 2025 Snapshot of Global PV Markets
WHAT IS IEA PVPS TCP?
The International Energy Agency (IEA), founded in 1974, is an autonomous body within the framework of the Organization
for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The Technology Collaboration Programme (TCP) was created with
a belief that the future of energy security and sustainability starts with global collaboration. The programme is made up of
6000 experts across government, academia, and industry dedicated to advancing common research and the application
of specific energy technologies.
The IEA Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (IEA PVPS) is one of the TCPs within the IEA and was established in
1993. The mission of the programme is to “enhance the international collaborative efforts which facilitate the role of
photovoltaic solar energy as a cornerstone in the transition to sustainable energy systems.” In order to achieve this, the
Programme’s participants have undertaken a variety of joint research projects in PV power systems applications. The
overall programme is headed by an Executive Committee, comprised of one delegate from each country or organisation
member, which designates distinct ‘Tasks,’ that may be research projects or activity areas.
The IEA PVPS participating members are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Enercity SA, European
Union, Finland, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Morocco, the Netherlands, Norway,
Portugal, Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS), SolarPower Europe, South Africa, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, Thailand, Türkiye, United States, and the United Kingdom.
Visit us at:
WHAT IS IEA PVPS TASK 1?
The objective of Task 1 of the IEA Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme is promoting and facilitating the exchange
and dissemination of information on the technical, economic, environmental and social aspects of PV power systems.
Task 1 activities support the broader PVPS objectives: to contribute to cost reduction of PV power applications, to increase
awareness of the potential and value of PV power systems, to foster the removal of both technical and non-technical
barriers and to enhance technology co-operation.
Authors
➢ Data: IEA PVPS Reporting Countries, Becquerel Institute (BE).
➢ Analysis: Gaëtan Masson, Adrien Van Rechem, Melodie de l’Epine (Becquerel Institute), Arnulf JÄGER-WALDAU
(EC-JRC); IEA PVPS Task 1 members
➢ Editor: Gaëtan Masson, IEA PVPS Task 1 Manager
➢ Design: IEA PVPS
DISCLAIMER
The IEA PVPS TCP is organised under the auspices of the International Energy Agency (IEA) but is functionally and legally autonomous.
Views, findings and publications of the IEA PVPS TCP do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the IEA Secretariat or its
individual member countries Data for non-IEA PVPS countries are provided by official contacts or experts in the relevant countries. Data
are valid at the date of publication and should be considered as estimates in several countries due to the publication date.
COVER PICTURE
PV panels in Lotus Parking canopies in Hangzhou China credit: LONGi
2025 Snapshot of Global PV Markets
INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY
PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER SYSTEMS PROGRAMME
IEA PVPS
Task 1
Strategic PV Analysis and Outreach
April 2025
Task 1 Strategic PV Analysis and Outreach – 2025 Snapshot of Global PV Markets
3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary .......................................................................................................... 4
1 Snapshot of the Global PV Market in 2024 ............................................................ 7
Evolution of Annual Installations ................................................................. 7
Impact of over-capacity in manufacturing ................................................... 9
Focus on the Top Markets in 2024 ............................................................. 10
Market Segmentation ................................................................................. 10
2 Cumulative Installed Capacity in the World ............................................................ 11
Evolution of Regional Share of PV Installations .......................................... 12
Limits of Reporting Conventions ................................................................. 14
Decommissioning, Repowering and Recycling ........................................... 14
AC or DC Numbers? .................................................................................. 15
3 Electricity Production from PV ............................................................................... 16
4 Policy & Markets Trends ........................................................................................ 17
Policy Trends ............................................................................................. 17
Remuneration mechanisms ........................................................................ 17
Prosumers Policies..................................................................................... 18
Grid Integration and Curtailment................................................................. 19
Local Manufacturing Policies ...................................................................... 20
2025 Market Perspectives in IEA PVPS Countries ..................................... 21
5 PV in the Broader Energy Transition ...................................................................... 22
PV and Other Renewable Energy Evolutions ............................................. 22
PV Fostering Development of a Cleaner Energy System............................ 23
Task 1 Strategic PV Analysis and Outreach – 2025 Snapshot of Global PV Markets
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The global PV cumulative capacity grew to significantly over TW at the end of 2024,
up from TW in 2023, with over 600 GW of new PV systems commissioned. After several
years of tension on material and transport costs, module prices continued to drop through
2024 in a still massively over-supplied market, putting tremendous financial pressure on all
industrial actors on one hand but stimulating markets on the other.
Major trends include:
With active development policies, China’s annual installations increased again to
GW or nearly 60% of new global capacity, reaching over 1 TW of cumulative capacity.
Remarkably, China hosted almost half of global the PV capacity at the end of 2024.
The rest of the world represented just over 40% of new installations but that number grew
significantly in 2024 also, adding GW to reach 1 GW installed.
Europe demonstrated continued strong growth installing GW (of which GW in
the EU), led by Germany ( GW) and Spain ( GW).
In the Americas, both major markets grew — the USA, continued strongly, adding GW
( GW cumulative) whilst Brazil continued to grow with GW, bringing its cumulative
capacity up to GW.
India had a positive growth year leaping to GW, predominantly in centralised systems.
Pakistan had a large volume of installations reaching 17 GW, in 4th place globally for
annual installations; other Asia-Pacific markets slowed down (Australia to GW and
Japan to GW).
PV energy production reached more than 10% of the world electricity consumption for the first
time.
The theoretical penetration rate of PV has grown across the world as capacity increases
faster than consumption, displacing coal and gas in increasingly large volumes. More than 25
countries have installed capacities able to supply more than 10% of national consumption and
half a dozen of these countries are approaching or over 20%; for those countries with the
highest penetration rates, curtailment is increasingly prevalent and investments in grid
decongestion and interconnections, as well as flexibility, storage and sector coupling will be
needed in the future to take advantage of peak capacity; the provision of alternative services
by generators (hybrid systems, capacity reserves, system services) is likely to become
important to maintain long term profitability as curtailment is actioned both for technical
reasons (supply imbalances) and markets reasons (negative prices).
Market development remains subject to regulations and support policies, but also
electricity consumption, wholesale prices and grid connection costs. Low module prices
through 2024 stimulated many markets – both in centralised and prosumer segments -
however as electricity prices returned to lower levels after 2022/2023 highs, individual market
segments slowed or shrank in some countries. Increased policy support has been the
response in countries with strong transition targets.
PV played an important role in the reduction of CO2 emissions from electricity once again
in 2024, and PV represented more than 75% of new renewable capacity installed in 2024,
contributing nearly 60% of generation from new renewable capacity.
Task 1 Strategic PV Analysis and Outreach – 2025 Snapshot of Global PV Markets
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Oversupply of PV modules in 2024 has continued to shed a light on the difficulty to align
production and demand in a very versatile environment: production capacities increased
significantly in China, and despite growth in most major markets, it was not sufficient to absorb
all new manufacturing. Huge imports have been noticed in some specific markets such as
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, and whilst these volumes have been installed in Pakistan, some
hypothesize that low prices might have led to buying without installing in other high volume
import markets.
Local manufacturing remained a key subject throughout 2024 as the Chinese industries’
continued over-capacity pushed module prices to record lows. The introduction of import tariffs
on modules was adopted as a protection measure in a limited number of countries with active
manufacturing support policies but uneven political support in other markets could also have
contributed to the difficulties in developing local PV manufacturing facilities in an already
inundated market.
Task 1 Strategic PV Analysis and Outreach – 2025 Snapshot of Global PV Markets
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Task 1 Strategic PV Analysis and Outreach – 2025 Snapshot of Global PV Markets
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1 SNAPSHOT OF THE GLOBAL PV MARKET IN 2024
IEA PVPS continues to produce unbiased reports on the development of PV all over the
world, based on information from official government bodies and reliable industry sources.
This 13th edition of the “Snapshot of Global PV Markets” aims at providing preliminary
information on how the PV market developed in 2024. The 30th edition of the PVPS complete
“Trends in Photovoltaic Applications” report will be published in Q4 2025.
Evolution of Annual Installations
At least 2 GW of cumulative capacity was installed by the end of 2024, with a further
90 GW possible identified by IEA PVPS Experts, for an estimated global cumulative
capacity of 2 GW. At least GW but perhaps as much as GW1 of PV
systems have been commissioned in the world last year. Countries2 in the IEA PVPS
programme in 2024 covered 80% of annual and cumulative capacity – if India, who joined IEA
PVPS from 2025 is included, this coverage increases to 85%. The growth rate fell back closer
to habitual values at just over 30%, down from 89% over 2023.
In 2024, at least 34 countries installed more than 1 GW, up from 29 countries in 2023. 25
countries have more than 10 GW of total cumulative capacity and seven have more than
40 GW. China alone is estimated to have passed 1 TW; the European Union (as EU27) now
has GW. The USA ranks third at GW and India has overtaken Japan to take fourth
place with GW. Germany and Japan will both pass the 100 GW mark in 2025.
Global markets have seen sustained double-digit growth over the past five years; whilst 2024
“only” saw about 32% growth compared to 2023’s nearly 90% growth, the absolute volumes
are remarkable. China’s market had another dynamic year as internal forces pushed to absorb
manufacturing capacity bringing the national market share to 59% of new global capacity. The
EU and the USA accounted for just 18% of new capacity as other markets also developed
strongly - India, Brazil and Pakistan collectively installed the same volume as the EU.
1 The minimal annual volume of GW considers official China reporting; the maximal annual
volume of GW considers a further GW that may have been installed; the range in volumes
is linked to the estimated choice of inverter load ratio (ILR) or AC to DC conversion ratio of Utility scale
systems in China. For many figures, these two values have been represented with full (minimum) and
additional shaded (maximum) bars. If not otherwise specified, compiled data refers to the higher
estimated values.
2 For the purpose of this report, IEA PVPS countries are those that are either member in their own right
or through the adhesion of the EC.
Task 1 Strategic PV Analysis and Outreach – 2025 Snapshot of Global PV Markets
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Growth rates in individual countries remain subject to local policies and international market
prices and considerable variations can be seen between countries and year to year. Whilst
growth rates have slowed (but remain positive) in many markets, others have stabilised or
contracted. The EU had low growth as continued expansion in Germany and France was
2Source: IEA PVPS
1 1 1 2 7 8
17 32 30
38 40 51
77
103 109 114
145
174
242
456
602
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
GWp FIGURE 1: EVOLUTION OF ANNUAL PV INSTALLATIONS
India Brazil Other countries Other IEA PVPS Countries European Union USA China
12Source: IEA PVPS
Task 1 Strategic PV Analysis and Outreach – 2025 Snapshot of Global PV Markets
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balanced by slow-downs in Spain and the Netherlands. Of particular note, the Turkish market
grew over the past two years and is expected to remain strong as local manufacturing
develops and electricity prices remain high following the Lira’s depreciation. Several GW were
installed and commissioned over the end of 2023 and early 2024, impacting how data was
recorded in previous reports.
The 2024 Indian market benefited from both low-cost imports and a cut-off date for using them,
as well as corporate green mandates. Not shown in Figure 2, Pakistan had very strong
additions to new capacity. Data quality is uncertain when it comes to installed volumes, but
large volumes of modules were imported in 2023 and 2024 (24 GW over 2 years according to
the China Chamber of Commerce), and larger volumes were installed in 2024 with reported
new capacity more than 13 times 2023 volumes at 17 GW. Policy changes have impacted
deployment budgets in South Korea, whilst stabilised consumer electricity prices have
contributed to the Spanish reduced market.
These developments have not been significant enough to impact the regional distribution
shares of new capacity in major markets as China continues to dominate (Figure 3).
Impact of over-capacity in manufacturing
In 2023, manufacturing capacity largely outstripped the market’s ability to absorb new module
availability. Module stocks in China and Europe grew from already high 2022 values to reach
an estimated 150 GW by the end of 2023. In 2024, stocks remained high as relatively stable
markets in Europe and China failed to absorb these historical stocks.
Manufacturers continued to deliver low-price modules to markets in an effort to secure cash
flows, and so module prices continued to decrease across 2024. Concerted action by Chinese
manufacturing led to module prices stabilising in Q1 2025 due to controlled production cuts
and upwards movement in upstream costs.
These low prices, combined with different local contexts stimulated markets in China and a
selection of countries including India, Pakistan, Brazil and supported modest growth in some
countries in Europe.
However, the pressure on the industry remains tremendous and solutions are quite complex:
with all segments of the PV value chain in significant overcapacity, the global development of
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
GWp FIGURE 3: GROWTH OF NEW ANNUAL CAPACITY IN MAJOR MARKETS
Other Non IEA PVPS Countries India Other IEA PVPS Countries Japan European Union USA China
3Source: IEA PVPS
Task 1 Strategic PV Analysis and Outreach – 2025 Snapshot of Global PV Markets
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PV should accelerate rapidly to over 1 TW per year to absorb this overproduction. This is a
challenge based on the current dynamics of the PV market, which could lead to massive PV
developments in new business models, such as Direct Air Capture, production of green
hydrogen or derivatives and more.
Focus on the Top Markets in 2024
The Chinese market grew again in 2024, although the rate slowed; it is certain that at least
GW was installed (official China reporting) but further estimations bring this to a possible
GW in 2024 (up from 277 GW in 2023 and 106 GW in 2022). With GW of annual
installations, the European Union ranked second, followed by the USA at GW. India more
than doubled last year’s new volumes to reach GW (up from 13 GW). The remarkable
influx of low-price modules in the Pakistani market has positioned them in a probable fourth
place, although capacity estimations are approximate. Continued growth in Germany and
Brazil sees these two countries maintain their places in the Top 5. Spain, Italy and France
have national markets that fluctuate year to year, coming in and out of the Top Ten periodically;
with stable or moderate growth in 2023 they all appear this year.
To reach the Top Ten for new capacity in 2024, countries needed to install at least GW of
PV systems (compared to GW in 2023 and just GW back in 2018).
Market Segmentation
Both rooftop and utility scale segments grew in 2024, however the utility scale grew much
more – especially in China, the USA and India. Data uncertainty in converting utility scale AC
capacity to DC capacity in China (and other countries) remains important but unlike 2023, the
utility scale market clearly dominated, representing over two-thirds of new capacity: the
change can be explained by the fast installation rates in China aimed at absorbing the
production. Whilst distributed PV remains the principal driver of growth in some markets
Note: The European Union grouped 27 European countries in 2024, out of which Germany, Spain, Italy,
France also appear in the Top Ten, either for the annual installed capacity or the cumulative installed
capacity. The European Commission is a member of IEA-PVPS through its Joint Research Centre (EC-
JRC). *IEA-PVPS preliminary assessment is higher than official China reporting
4Source: IEA PVPS
Task 1 Strategic PV Analysis and Outreach – 2025 Snapshot of Global PV Markets
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(Brazil, Germany, Türkiye, Italy and France for example), the sheer volume that can be
installed in individual utility scale systems is leading to this segment outpacing distributed
growth around the world. Newer applications such as floating PV and linear PV are more often
within the centralised market, whilst agriPV and parking canopies exist across both the
centralised and decentralised segments. The increase in deployment of prosumer and self-
consumption remuneration models tends to be limited to smaller capacity systems, with a
larger number of unit systems but much lower capacities.
2 CUMULATIVE INSTALLED CAPACITY IN THE WORLD
In 2024, the global cumulative installed capacity reached TW, as shown in Figure 5.
It took more than 40 years to reach a cumulative capacity of TW (in 2022), but just 2
years to double this. China now has nearly 50% of cumulative worldwide capacity. Growth in
cumulative capacity remained over 35% — above average for the past 10 years. Within the
Top Ten of total cumulative installed capacities (see Table 1 above), where last year the
Chinese cumulative capacity was just over double that of Europe, this year it is triple — the
faster growth rates in annual capacity leaving the EU and other countries lagging. There is still
a long gap before Japan, who slipping to 5th place and has a slowing market, will be overtaken
in cumulative capacity— the next markets would have to improve on this year’s annual
volumes over at least 5 years to catch up the more than 40 GW gap.
As India and the UK join the IEA PVPS programme in 2025, the cumulative volume of
installations outside of IEA PVPS will become marginal.
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
GWp FIGURE 4: SEGMENTATION OF PV INSTALLATION 2014-2024
ROOFTOP UTILITY SCALE
5Source: IEA PVPS, Becquerel Institute
Task 1 Strategic PV Analysis and Outreach – 2025 Snapshot of Global PV Markets
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Evolution of Regional Share of PV Installations
With the predominance of the Chinese market, it is no surprise that Aisa-Pacific leads in
regional share. This position has been reinforced because the once-again extremely large
Chinese market has grown faster than elsewhere, and other regional shares have gone down
proportionally. If we exclude China from the Asia-Pacific market, what remains is roughly
equivalent in size to the European and the Americas market, the first two holding 17% and the
latter 14% of global cumulative PV installations.
Outside of China, major Asia-Pacific’s markets varied widely in dynamics; India
( GW) and Pakistan ( GW) had strong growth whilst Japan, South Korea and Australia
either slightly contracted or remained stable. These three countries have been significant
contributors to markets in the past, but their combined new capacity is slowly declining towards
10 GW from a high of 18 GW five years ago and their contribution to global cumulative
capacity is down to just 2% from 6% in 2020. In contrast, India has developed strongly, leaning
both on ambitious manufacturing and market support as well as benefiting from low-cost
imports. The ability of India to continue with the volumes seen this year will depend both on
the local markets ability to function with higher cost local manufacturing and on investment in
administrative procedures and labour markets. The Pakistani market this year is the result of
the convergence of several factors from rising electricity costs, low-cost imports, and a rapidly
expanding network of module importers and resellers - the large volume of imported modules
in 2023 indicated that 2024 would be dynamic. With an estimated new capacity over 17 GW,
real concerns are being raised about the local grids ability to remain stable and the viability of
the whole electricity system, that has high legacy capacity costs.
The European regional market lost several percentage points in its share of global
capacity but grew as a whole, despite reductions in Spain (due to lower competitivity on the
prosumer markets as electricity consumption prices dropped, where annual capacity was
down to GW for a cumulative capacity of GW), as well as Poland, the Netherlands
and some Nordic markets. Other markets increased once again, including Germany ( GW
for a cumulative capacity of GW), Italy, France and Greece. Nearly 20 countries installed
more than 1 GW in Europe in 2024.
3 4 6 8 15 23 41
72 102
140 181
231
308
411
515
628
774
947
1186
1645
2247
0
250
500
750
1000
1250
1500
1750
2000
2250
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
GWp FIGURE 5: EVOLUTION OF CUMULATIVE PV INSTALLATIONS
Brazil India Other countries Other IEA PVPS countries European Union USA Japan China
6Source: IEA PVPS
Task 1 Strategic PV Analysis and Outreach – 2025 Snapshot of Global PV Markets
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The Americas regional market is principally composed of the USA and Brazil, although a
number of countries have smaller volumes, either based on the rise of small prosumer systems
or, on the contrary, as utility scale systems are installed. With GW new capacity, the USA
market picked up compared to 2023 ( GW), despite grid connection delays and some
material shortages continuing in 2024. The Brazilian market continued to grow, at GW
for a cumulative capacity of GW.
In the Middle East and Africa, Türkiye was the most dynamic market, adding GW to last
year's GW for a cumulative capacity of GW. The South African market slowed to
approximately GW but a healthy volume of projects are in the development phases. The
rest of the continent saw marginal volumes installed compared to elsewhere, despite the large
pipeline of announced projects, many associated with storage or green hydrogen / ammonia.
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
GWp FIGURE 6A: EVOLUTION OF REGIONAL PV INSTALLATIONS
Asia Pacific excluding China China Europe Africa & Middle East RoW The Americas
7Source: IEA PVPS
8Source: IEA PVPS
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
FIGURE 6B: EVOLUTION OF REGIONAL SHARE OF GLOBAL MARKET
Africa & Middle East Europe Rest of the world
The Americas Asia Pacific excluding China China
Task 1 Strategic PV Analysis and Outreach – 2025 Snapshot of Global PV Markets
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Limits of Reporting Conventions
As the PV market grows constantly, reporting of PV
installations is becoming more complex. IEA
PVPS has decided to count all PV installations, both
grid-connected and off-grid, when numbers are
reported, and to estimate the remaining part on
unreported installations. For countries with historically
significant capacity and good reporting, a slow yet
growing gap between shipped / imported capacity
and installed capacity can be attributed to several
factors including conversion factors from AC to DC,
repowering and decommissioning. Converting AC to
DC power, particularly on data sets covering a wide
geographical area, is subject to a rather large
uncertainty, as is demonstrated with China data —
official reporting of utility scale is in AC power, China
experts use a or conversion ratio whilst
others use up to . France uses a conversion
ratio, Singapore – practices vary with latitude and
grid constraints. With a lack of hard data on existing
systems, these ratios are built on limited surveys and
standard dimensioning practices.
The extremely fast paced development of micro
systems (plug&play systems with only a few
modules), whilst not significant in overall volumes is
symptomatic of the development of unreported
systems reaching the market and sometimes being
invisible to distribution system operators and data
collection.
Other market evolutions such as off-grid applications
are difficult to track even in member countries, and
significant growth in installations in countries without
a robust reporting system is also a likely source of
underreporting. In light of this, reporting here takes
into account reported and expert estimates of new
commissioned capacity as well as probable
unreported volumes installed in one of the above
contexts.
Decommissioning, Repowering and Recycling
Data published by IEA PVPS reports on new annual installed capacity and total cumulative
installed capacity are based on official data in reporting countries. Depending on reporting
practices, historical cumulative capacity (the sum of new annual capacity) may outstrip
cumulative operating capacity as systems are decommissioned. Repowered capacities
replace some decommissioned capacity but also generally increase operational capacity, as
the repowered capacity is higher than the initial plant capacity due to PV module efficiency
improvements.
10Source : IEA PVPS
Primary &
trusted
secondary
source; 425 GW
Approximative
source;
118 GW
Expert guess and
AC/DC ratio
uncertainty; 58 GW
Maximum
Installed
602 GW
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
A
n
n
u
a
l C
a
p
a
ci
ty
(
G
W
p
)
FIGURE 7: COMMISSIONED
VOLUMES 2024
9Source: IEA PVPS
Task 1 Strategic PV Analysis and Outreach – 2025 Snapshot of Global PV Markets
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There is no standardised reporting on these subjects across IEA PVPS countries. Several
countries already incorporate decommissioning of PV plants in their total capacity numbers by
reducing the total cumulative number. Other countries report capacity in operation for that
year, and do not include repowered volumes in new annual capacity or decommissioned
volumes in operational capacity. Many countries do not track decommissioning or repowering
with any consistency.
Repowering3 is becoming more prevalent as the number of installations reaching 15 to 20
years of age increases — and some industry surveys report that for utility scale systems,
repowering is more likely to be done after only 12 to 15 years. Module capacity that has been
used to repower systems with defective or underperforming modules will appear in shipped
volumes but not necessarily in new annual installations. Real decommissioning is expected
to be rare, as land usage constraints and cheaper PV on buildings encourage repowering.
Recycling numbers can provide a glimpse of what is happening with regards to repowering
and decommissioning in countries where recycling schemes are active, however reporting is
often in tonnage and the availability of data must be improved before it can be used more
generally.
AC or DC Numbers?
By convention, the numbers reported refer to
the nominal power of PV systems installed.
These are expressed in W (or Wp). Some
countries report the power output of the PV
inverter (the device converting DC power from
the PV system into AC electricity compatible
with standard electricity networks) or the grid
connection power level. The difference
between the standard DC power (in Wp) and the
AC power can range from as little as 5% (conversion losses, inverter set at the DC level) to
as much as 60%. For instance, some grid regulations limit injections to as low as 70% of the
peak power from the residential PV systems installed in the last years. Most utility-scale plants
built in 2024 have an AC-DC ratio between and . For some countries, numbers
indicated in this report have been transformed to DC numbers to maintain the
coherency of the overall report.
In general, IEA PVPS recommends registering PV systems with both the DC power and the
AC value. DC power allows a reliable calculation of the energy production whilst AC power
allows a better understanding of the theoretical maximum power output of the PV fleet. More
information about recommendations to properly register PV plants can be found in the Data
Model and Data Acquisition report (see link above).
3 Repowering is the practice of replacing part or all of the modules of an existing system with newer,
more efficient modules. In this process, the overall peak power of the system may be increased.
IEA PVPS Report: Data Model and Data
Acquisition for PV
Registration Schemes and
Grid Connection – Best
Practice and
Recommendations.
Task 1 Strategic PV Analysis and Outreach – 2025 Snapshot of Global PV Markets
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3 ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION FROM PV
Figure 8 shows how PV theoretically could contribute
to meet the electricity demand in key IEA PVPS
countries and other major markets. It gives a
comparative view of the contribution the
cumulative installed capacity of PV at the end of
2024 could have to 2025 electricity consumption.
PV generation is easy to measure for an individual
system but more complex for an entire country.
Converting installed capacity to electricity is subject
to errors - solar irradiation can vary depending on the
local climate; weather can differ from year to year.
Systems installed on buildings may not be at
optimum orientation or have partial shading.
Electricity self-consumed by prosumers is generally
not metered. Where curtailment is practiced, the
estimated curtailed volume may or may not be
estimated (and reported) by grid managers,
depending on local remuneration or regulation
schemes.
Here, generation is based on the theoretical
electricity production from all installed PV, calculated
based on cumulative PV capacity at the end of 2024,
close to optimum siting, orientation, and yearly
weather conditions, and includes utility scale, self-
consumption and even off grid system generation.
Numbers may differ from official PV production
numbers in some countries. It is evidently an
optimistic evaluation, and should be considered as
indicative, providing a reliable estimation for
comparison between countries and does not replace
official data. Electricity consumption is based on
official data.
Sources of uncertainty in the PV penetration rate
include consumption data (depending on availability,
consumption is for the year 2023 or 2024 – as many
countries reported 3% to 6% increases in
consumption, using 2023 consumption data could
lead to over-estimating penetration rates); how
different countries report self-consumed electricity
(adding, or not, as the case may be, this electricity to
official consumption data); the real impact of
curtailment on generation. Curtailment has only been
indicated for two countries where curtailment is
known to be high and official data is published - it has been included to demonstrate that part
that is lost but it should be noted that curtailment is prevalent in many more countries.
0,4%
1,2%
1,5%
4,0%
3,7%
4,5%
5,8%
6,6%
6,8%
7,3%
7,7%
7,8%
7,9%
8,4%
8,5%
9,5%
12,1%
12,3%
12,6%
12,7%
13,1%
13,5%
13,5%
13,6%
13,9%
14,0%
14,0%
14,1%
14,4%
14,5%
16,6%
16,6%
19,5%
19,8%
19,8%
20,3%
20,6%
24,0%
25,5%
27,9%
8,4%
3,3%
Norway
Finland
Canada
Malaysia
Sweden
Slovakia
United Kingdom
Mexico
South Korea
France
Czech Republic
South Africa
United States
Türkiye
Thailand
India
Morocco
Japan
Belgium
Romania
China
Portugal
Denmark
Italy
Switzerland
European Union
Brazil
Bulgaria
Austria
Poland
Malta
Israel
Cyprus
Germany
Australia
Chile
Hungary
Spain
Netherlands
Greece
FIGURE 8: THEORETICAL PV
PENETRATION 2024
estimated
curtailement
11Source : IEA PVPS
Task 1 Strategic PV Analysis and Outreach – 2025 Snapshot of Global PV Markets
17
There are now 27 countries with an estimated penetration rate over 10% (up from 18 in
2023): Greece tops the list (5th in 2023) however curtailment is a real issue and the penetration
rate considering curtailment is lower than indicated; the Netherlands, Spain and Chile follow,
with newcomer to the top Hungary at over 20%, followed by Australia, Germany and a few
smaller countries also over 20%. The increasingly large volumes of installed capacity are
making a tangible contribution to electricity consumption around the world. The two
principal PV markets, China and the Europe Union, demonstrate this with more than 13%
each. In total, PV contribution amounts to over 10% of the electricity demand in the
world.
4 POLICY & MARKETS TRENDS
Policy Trends
Policy trends vary in response to energy transition and economic goals and PV industry
and market trends. Rapid policy changes are often a reaction to evolving module prices,
project profitability and trade deficits whilst more structural policy changes can be linked to
energy transition goals, the cost of support mechanisms and local manufacturing stimulus.
The increasing competitiveness of PV has been a driver for many policy changes, in particular
with regards to shifting towards prosumer policies and PPA facilitating measures (see below).
Across Europe and in other countries, where once building regulations encouraged solar, it is
becoming near mandatory or a more common requirement to increase energy autonomy –
although the complexity of these mandates can mean slow deployment.
Policy support for batteries has also advanced, especially in countries with grid congestion,
high penetration rates or high electricity costs. Policies and market design facilitating storage
coupled with distributed and/or utility scale solar now exist in Austria, Australia, China,
Germany, Italy, Japan, to name a few. In particular, mandatory coupling of storage with solar
in China has led to record volumes globally.
Policies to support local manufacturing were initiated in the past years in several countries. In
Europe the ability of these policies to really support the emergence of local manufacturing is
in question since the price plunge of new modules through 2023 and 2024 led to a highly
competitive market for manufacturers and the closure of local actors. India, Türkiye and the
USA, with the ability to pass legislation in a more dynamic matter, have had more success
and increased manufacturing volumes progressively since 2023.
A number of countries are currently revising PV targets within national planning or strategic
documents (France, Japan, Portugal, Spain), or have set them for the first time (Austria,
Norway).
Remuneration mechanisms
Tenders continued to be a popular instrument for developing commercial, industrial and
utility systems, whilst PPA (power purchase agreements) and cPPA (corporate PPA, with a
consumer) or even merchant PV (electricity sold on the market) are becoming more
mainstream. This shift is not only due to the increasing competitivity of PV but also because
of the efforts by commercial entities to keep control of future electricity costs through stable
Task 1 Strategic PV Analysis and Outreach – 2025 Snapshot of Global PV Markets
18
long-term contracts that meet increasingly stringent social and environmental responsibility
standards.
Tenders can be exclusively cost based or integrate multiple factors such as land use, carbon
footprint or geographical location. As concerns over the concentration of supply chains in
China evolve, some governments (EU countries through the NZIA resilience clause, Türkiye,
India) have looked to tender mechanisms to encourage local content, although trade rules can
make this a complex undertaking.
Whilst through 2022 the peaking electricity costs were a strong motivator for immediate
investment, the impact of fluctuations was also sufficient to push consumers to look towards
more previsible supply costs and continue investing. PPA markets evolved differently across
the world in 2024, with an upwards trend in prices in Japan (increased demand), and also
Norh America, under the influence of strong demand for data centres and corporate
responsibility programmes and reduced supply as grid connection backlogs and some
equipment supply constraints continue to impact development. In Europe, PPA prices dropped
as supply increased, with project developers in major markets looking to secure contracts
outside of support frameworks subject to political instability. In many countries, increased
demand from data centre projects is expected to be a significant driver of the market. Volumes
secured for greenfield solar in Australia were significant as the mining industry works towards
ESG goals.
PPA guarantee funds and security nets have been developed in some countries to
increase investor and banking sector confidence in off-taker viability (France, Italy) whilst other
countries are progressively opening their electricity markets to make room for PPAs (Malaysia)
or looking to develop platforms to facilitate individuals and SME access to PPAs (Portugal).
The provision of alternative services by generators (hybrid parcs for larger baseloads or
peak shifting with storage, capacity reserves, systems services) is likely to become
important to maintain long term profitability as curtailment is actioned both for technical
reasons (supply imbalances) and markets reasons (negative prices). Shifting from this
reliance on kWh based PPAs or tenders for remuneration is inevitably complexifying
management.
Prosumers Policies
Prosumers (entities that are both producers and consumers of energy) are becoming more
active market drivers around the world as electricity consumption prices go up, PV costs
go down and PV penetration rates increase, improving understanding of and access to
prosumer policies.
In reaction to different factors, including increased competitivity, direct and indirect support
mechanisms are being adapted in some countries to further promote prosumer policies:
individual self-consumption, collective self-consumption and/or energy communities.
Prosumer excess generation can be paid for through net metering (generally in emerging
markets), or net billing (in more experienced markets with smart or communicating meters).
Remuneration rates vary and can be low to dissuade injections into the grid or on the contrary
benefit from feed in tariffs or market premiums. These remuneration rates can be associated
with a range of different constraints, from capacity limits to mandatory building integration or
carbon footprints.
Task 1 Strategic PV Analysis and Outreach – 2025 Snapshot of Global PV Markets
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Collective self-consumption — where one or several PV producers (even utility-scale plants)
supply one or more consumers in the same building or within a small geographical perimeter
with reduced use of the public grid — continues to grow, although the wide range of
mechanisms used can make it difficult to compare between countries. The use of self-
consumption in collective buildings is growing rapidly around the world (many EU countries),
whilst other models such as distributed (or virtual) self-consumption are becoming more
prevalent. These models have in common that they allow a higher rate of self-consumption
than if only one consumer is associated, and are increasingly seen as a market substitute,
allowing small-scale generators to sell directly to consumers without having to become
commercial operators, an often complex process.
Grid Integration and Curtailment
With increasingly high penetration rates of PV in more and more countries, transmission and
distribution system operators are having to anticipate and more actively manage PV.
Grid congestion and/or longer delays for grid connection have not allowed some local markets
to develop to full potential (USA, Austria, Japan, Spain, Denmark) and in others is pushing the
development of shared connections (renewable energy hubs) and hybrid parcs (USA,
Australia, the Netherlands, France)
In some smaller regions (Australian, USA states, peninsular and island nations, in particular)
penetration rates are so high that PV has provided 100% of power over several hours
multiple times. These regions are actively trialling technologies and policies that will be
adapted in other regions as penetration rates increase. In parallel, more and more countries
are experiencing periods of time where overall supply outstrips demand – the most often
coinciding with peak generation from PV. This imbalance has impacts such as affecting grid
stability (increased voltage), forced cut-off (curtailment) of some generators and negative
prices on electricity markets
Curtailment policies are being developed to meet the challenges these situations bring.
These policies can require fundamental changes to national legislation (such as policies giving
distribution grid operators the power to cut or control generation levels as passed in Greece)
but also trigger policy measures to add or increase large-scale storage to provide services for
grid stability (USA, Australia, China, Spain).
Policies to manage curtailment address aspects as diverse as compensation for lost
generation, technical and legal mechanisms to allow network operators to remotely cut
generation, obligations for generators to maintain or modulate voltage or frequency depending
on the grids characteristics and managing the cost of balancing services. The impact on
Contract for Difference support mechanisms is also under discussion in some countries.
Grid stability is an essential component of energy transition policies, with significant
budgets being reserved across the world to adapt grids to accommodate increased
penetration of renewable generation — including across interconnected networks such as the
projected ASEAN Power Grid or the existing European grid. How the cost burden of managing,
reinforcing and renewing grid infrastructure is shared has become one of the more sensitive
topics. As these penetration rates increase, new governance models compatible with
market and climate policy driven deployment targets will need to be established to ensure
PV can be smoothly deployed.
Task 1 Strategic PV Analysis and Outreach – 2025 Snapshot of Global PV Markets
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Local Manufacturing Policies
The different disruptions of 2020 to 2022 (COVID-19, geopolitical tensions around the world,
pollution episodes and human rights issues in China) have highlighted the fragility of the PV
value chain, at a time when governments are looking to increased energy resilience.
Supporting local manufacturing at various steps of the PV value chain has become important
in different regions, pushing numerous governments to support local manufacturing
through policies, subsidies and regulations.
In the EU, local manufacturing is being developed with government support, with exemptions
to state aid rules facilitated by the State Aid Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework.
Support schemes in Poland were approved 2024
The NetZero Industry Act (NZIA) was written to offer options for European countries to
dedicate parts of the PV market to local manufacturers through specific bonuses or selection
criteria in tenders and public procurement. These measures were leveraged in 2024 in Italy,
for example. However, through 2023 and 2024 manufacturing in Europe (both operating and
projects in development) was particularly impacted by the low module prices – the current or
projected inability to manufacture modules at competitive prices became a real barrier, and
policy shifts have not been rapid or decisive enough to guarantee continued developments.
Several GW-scale projects remain, however some notable upstream industry actors shut
down operations in 2024, leaving the EU supply chain fragilized.
In the Middle East, manufacturing projects seem to be less spurred by policies for developing
supply to local markets, and more often for economic development and exports – these include
10 GW of polysilicon manufacturing (under construction) and about 15 GW of cell and module
manufacturing (in project) in the Sohar Free Trade Zone in Oman, several projects in Saudia
Arabia, 3 GW of module manufacturing in Egypt (under construction) and extensions to
Moroccan module manufacturing lines. Türkiye launched support for local manufacturing and
developing local value chains through grants and tax incentives, looking to stimulate private
sector investment in the country, and added tariffs on modules imported from both China and
several other countries.
South Africa initiated import tariffs on PV modules to protect local manufacturing from low
priced imports.
In the USA the strong trade barriers and developmental framework, notably the Inflation
Reduction Act support schemes, meant that international prices had only minor impacts on
USA manufacturing and markets across 2024, with silicon cell manufacturing restarted and a
module manufacturing capacity increased to over 40 GW/year. Many projects remain in
development phases and much uncertainty has resulted from the change in presidency in Q1
2025.
Brazil increased import tariffs more than twice in 2024 (% then 25%) in attempts to support
the roughly 5 GW of local manufacturing capacity (and jobs) as low-cost Chinese modules
flooded the local market. Although the volume of demand was many times that of local
manufacturing capacity, quality concerns surrounding some imports have also been raised,
strengthening support for policy decisions in favour of local manufacturing.
In India, local manufacturing has been supported through module import barriers, the
Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme and Domestic Content Requirements (DCR). The
obligation for government backed projects to be supplied only from the Approved List of
Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) was restarted in April 2024 after a one year pause. By the
end of 2024, more than 60 GW/year of module manufacturing capacity was either
Task 1 Strategic PV Analysis and Outreach – 2025 Snapshot of Global PV Markets
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commissioned or being ramped up, and about 50 GW/year of cell manufacturing projects are
planned to meet the ALMM cell requirements that come into effect in June 2026.
In Australia, the 2024 Solar Sunshot program supports domestic manufacturing through
production subsidies and grants.
2025 Market Perspectives in IEA PVPS Countries
Most IEA PVPS member countries expect continued steady volumes or small growth in 2025.
Policy changes reducing feed in tariffs and investor support mechanisms in France,
Switzerland, Sweden, Austria and the USA are likely to adversely impact these markets —
although markets forces and the further development of PPAs should reduce the volatility that
these policy changes could otherwise provoke. In other countries, changed policies could
support more growth (Japan, Australia).
The impact of controlled production volumes in China is already being seen as module prices
stabilize at the end of 2024; this will likely slow down the Chinese market, however as prices
remain well below early 2022 values, it is not expected to significantly reduce the competitivity
of PV in other major markets. It is expected that global inventories decline over 2025 both as
a result of these controlled production volumes and the movement of Chinese stock to foreign
markets — aggressively low prices through 2024 led to significant imports in countries with
smaller historical markets such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, and whilst a portion of these
volumes have been installed, much still remains either uninstalled or uncommissioned.
Significant uncertainties remain around the impacts on local grids and electricity markets of
new 2025 volumes, as they become increasingly subject to congestion (grids) and negative
prices (markets). Curtailment is expected to grow steadily around the world, leading to
experiments in more diversified business models.
Local manufacturing in the USA is likely to be under pressure in the 2025 political climate; on
the other side of the world, an increasing number of Indian facilities should come online.
Consolidation in the Chinese manufacturing industry is expected as over-capacity eases only
slightly.
Task 1 Strategic PV Analysis and Outreach – 2025 Snapshot of Global PV Markets
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5 PV IN THE BROADER ENERGY TRANSITION
PV and Other Renewable Energy Evolutions
In 2024, PV once again supplied more than three-quarters of new renewable generation
capacity. The continued low module prices associated with current over-capacity in
manufacturing, combined with continued support mechanisms and rising demand across the
world for PV PPAs has meant that PV remains both profitable and attractive for private and
institutional investors.
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
GWp
FIGURE 9: EVOLUTION OF ANNUAL RENEWABLE ENERGY
INSTALLATIONS
Wind PV Hydro Other renewables (non hydro)
12Sources: compilation of IEA PVPS, IHA, BNEF, GWEC, WWEA, IRENA and estimations for 2024
Task 1 Strategic PV Analysis and Outreach – 2025 Snapshot of Global PV Markets
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Whereas biomass and hydro installations
can generally produce electricity 24 hours a
day and all year-round, wind and PV
installation output depend on the available
resources that can vary locally – for
example, with more consistent winds,
offshore wind power has a higher capacity
factor than onshore wind, and dependent
on sunlight, PV can only produce during
daylight hours.
With a lower capacity factor than wind or
hydro, the share of generation coming from
PV is lower than capacity shares – despite
this, about 60% of new generation form
renewable sources was from PV.
PV Fostering Development of a Cleaner Energy System
Cleaner energy systems can be built on renewable energies for electricity supply and the
electrification of previously fossil fuel powered uses such as heating and transport. Combining
high volumes of variable renewable energy with storage is proving to be a cost-effective,
cleaner solution than maintaining often aging coal power plants or investing in new gas
turbines, with supply subject to geopolitical instability, as proven over the past two years.
As PV penetration rates grow across the world, storage is becoming an important enabler;
adding a little storage capacity can both smooth peak production to reduce grid capacity costs
and provide a range of services that allow PV plus storage hybrid plants to replace traditional
fossil fuel plants. Many support mechanisms are taking advantage of this synergy to strongly
encourage hybrid systems either in residential or utility-scale markets (India, USA, Australia).
Global installed battery capacity is estimated to have increased by approximately 150% in
2024.
A step further, sector coupling can provide excess solar to generate heat, cold or molecules
such as hydrogen and ammonia, or power transport.
FIGURE 10: SHARE OF ELECTRICITY
GENERATION FROM NEW CAPACITY
INSTALLED IN 2024 BY SOURCE
Wind onshore Wind offshore PV Hydro
Sources: compilation of IEA PVPS, IHA, BNEF, GWEC,
IRENA and estimations for 2024
Task 1 Strategic PV Analysis and Outreach – 2025 Snapshot of Global PV Markets
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Part of the electrification of uses is the move towards electric vehicles (EVs) - the electrification
of transport is well underway, with practical examples of charging EVs during peak load for
grid management, a practice enabled by smart meters, whilst concepts such as virtual self-
consumption, dependent on metering and secure exchange frameworks remain an attractive
possibility to provide a framework for EVs as mobile storage for excess PV generation. The
continued and sustained growth in EV sales across the world is an important indicator of state
and consumer engagement in the transition to cleaner electricity-based economies.
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
E
V
s
a
le
s
(m
il
li
o
n
s)
P
V
i
n
st
a
ll
a
ti
o
n
(
G
W
p
)
FIGURE 11: EVOLUTION OF EV AND PV ANNUAL GROWTH
PV installation (GW) EV sales (millions)
13Source : IEA PVPS, EV Volumes, Reuters
