This year’s edition of SolarPower Europe’s annual survey Global Market Outlook for Solar Power is testament to the ongoing photovoltaics boom: In 2024, 597gigawatts (GW) of new capacity was installed globally – a plus of 33 percent, and a new milestone.
Solar energy accounted for 81 percent of the global renewable energies deployment, having doubled the total worldwide capacity to more than 2.2 terawatts (TW) in just two years. The report’s Medium Scenario expects a rise to 655 GW for 2025. The Global Market Outlook for Solar Power was presented at the Intersolar Europe Conference in May 2025.
And the success story of solar energy continues: By 2029, the annual installed capacity could be up to 930 GW, paving the way towards a terawatt industry by 2030. China plays a key role, having installed 329 GW in 2024 – more than all the other top 10 markets combined. According to the report, there could be a temporary slowdown of global growth in 2026, mainly caused by deep-rooted changes in the Chinese solar market, with the market picking up again to two-digit growth levels from 2027. By 2030, the cumulated capacity could reach around 7 TW, says the report. With 50 GW, the USA showed record deployment rates in 2024, consolidating the country’s position as the second-largest PV market. India installed 30.7 GW and grew by 145 percent last year, lifting it to third place in the world. Brazil also showed an impressive growth, and with 18.9 GW (a plus of 21 percent) remained Latin America’s leading PV market.
The European solar market also achieved a record, installing 82 GW in 2024, which was a mere 15 percent growth. Compared with other world regions, Europe was relegated to place four (after China, Asia-Pacific without China and the Americas) in 2024, and accounted for 14 percent of all new installations in the world. In the EU-27, 65.3 GW were installed in total, with Germany leading at 17.4 GW, followed by Spain, Italy, France and Poland. The slacking European growth is attributed to the challenges of a more mature market: Grid congestion, a slow reform process, lower ROI and subsidy delays.
The market survey stresses that stable political framework conditions, investments in storage technology, grid infrastructure and planning processes are key to achieving the ambitious expansion goals – both globally and within Europe.
Photovoltaics remains on a path to success and key to reaching climate targets. While China is repositioning itself, other markets, amongst them Europe and the USA, are seeing new opportunities for putting themselves in an even stronger position through innovative power, infrastructure developments and a targeted subsidy policy in order to overcome the bottlenecks that are impeding a swift expansion by driving sophisticated technological solutions.
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