Solar Market Size by Country 2026: GW Rankings

Last updated: November 2026

Solar is now a three-terawatt market, and one country holds about half of it. This page ranks countries by installed capacity and by 2025 additions, then looks at growth rates and solar’s share of electricity demand.

All capacity figures on this page come from one source. It is the IEA PVPS Snapshot of Global PV Markets 2026 (report IEA-PVPS T1-49:2026, April 2026, preliminary data). IEA PVPS is the International Energy Agency’s Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme. The figures are DC nameplate power in GW. This is the rated output of the panels, before the inverter turns it into AC. Other trackers such as IRENA, Ember and BNEF count different boundaries (AC or DC, connected or commissioned) and publish different totals. So do not mix their numbers with these. Where a country reports AC output, IEA PVPS converts it to DC. Earlier editions are revised each year. This report puts end-2024 capacity at 2,276 GW.

Global Solar Capacity at a Glance

Annual additions rose from 174 GW in 2021 to 698 GW in 2025. Cumulative capacity passed 2.9 TW. Growth in annual additions has slowed. The report gives 93% for 2023, 28% for 2024 and 16% for 2025. Global additions in 2025 were at least 608 GW from official and industry data. IEA PVPS experts added about 90 GW of estimates. Most of that is an AC to DC adjustment for centralised (large, utility-scale) plants in China (65.2 GW).

We calculate growth in additions from the table (for example 698 / 602 = 1.16). The report states the 2023, 2024 and 2025 growth rates. The 2022 rate is our calculation (244 / 174 = 1.40). China accounted for around 60% of 2025 additions, in line with 59% in 2024. China’s 2025 volume is a range. It is 349.8 GW on official reporting, and up to 415 GW with IEA PVPS estimates. The table uses the higher figure, as the report does.

Nearly 40 countries (39 in the report’s key figures) installed at least 1 GW in 2025. That compares with 33 in 2024 and 29 in 2023. By the end of 2025, 26 countries had at least 10 GW cumulative. The EU, USA and India together made up around 23% of new capacity. Growth outside China was around 300 GW.

Module prices explain part of the volume. The report says module prices in China fell by more than 60% from early 2023 levels, while manufacturing overcapacity persisted. It also says the bottleneck has moved in a growing number of markets. It is no longer module cost. It is now permitting, grid connection and curtailment risk. Curtailment is when solar output is cut back because the grid cannot use it.

Top 10 Countries by Installed Solar Capacity (End-2025)

China has the most installed solar, with 1,463.5 GW. That is about 49% of the global 2,974 GW (1,463.5 / 2,974). IEA PVPS ranks countries and shows the EU separately as a bloc of 27 countries. So the EU sits at position two in its table, but it is not counted in the country ranking.

Note: values marked with an asterisk are IEA PVPS preliminary assessments. They are higher than official reporting for China and Pakistan. Pakistan’s volumes carry an uncertainty range. The report says Pakistan is almost entirely a distributed market (many small systems) without consistent data collection. The 2025 additions column uses Table 1 (one decimal). The end-2024 column uses Table 6-2, which rounds values above 10 GW to whole numbers. Cross-check: 1,049 + 415 = 1,464 for China, and 225 + 43.2 = 268.2 for the USA.

The report does not publish a ranking below tenth place. Many countries are grouped under “Other non-IEA PVPS countries” in its annex. So countries outside the top 10 are listed below without ranks. A “top 20” would need a second source with a different boundary.

Poland, Mexico, Chile, Vietnam, Indonesia and other large markets are not reported as separate lines in these tables. So this page gives no capacity figure for them.

Annual Solar Additions: Which Countries Added the Most in 2025?

China added 415 GW in 2025 (349.8 GW on official reporting), against 357 GW in 2024 and 277 GW in 2023. The EU added 65.7 GW, up from 64.4 GW in 2024. India reached third place with 55.9 GW, ahead of the USA at 43.2 GW.

Note: values marked with an asterisk are IEA PVPS preliminary assessments, higher than official reporting.

The US did not rank among the top three annual markets in 2025 for the first time since 2019. The report gives these reasons for the drop: lower utility-scale (large power plant) volumes, higher costs for structural and electrical components, electrical component bottlenecks, and weaker decentralised (small-system) demand. Higher interest rates and economic uncertainty weakened that demand. For state-level incentives, see the state solar incentives guide.

China: 1,463.5 GW

China’s cumulative capacity grew by nearly 40% in 2025 (1,049 GW to 1,464 GW). The report counts at least 349.8 GW of 2025 installations on official reporting. It adds a possible 65 GW more. That extra amount depends on the ratio used to convert AC utility-scale figures to DC.

United States: 268.2 GW

The USA added 43.2 GW in 2025, down from 47 GW in 2024 (Table 6-1). Centralised additions fell. The report names grid connection and interconnection constraints as a limit on commissioning (bringing plants into operation). It says this is partly because of equipment availability.

India: 180.5 GW

India added 55.9 GW in 2025. The report links this to two things. One is faster utility-scale deployment ahead of domestic content deadlines (rules that require locally made equipment). The other is growth in distributed solar. India appears in the report’s IEA PVPS tables for 2025 only. So its 2024 figure of 125 GW comes from the non-PVPS listing. For policy and prices, see the guides on solar energy in India and 5 kW solar panel price in India.

Europe and Germany

Europe added 76.3 GW in 2025 (65.7 GW in the EU) and reached 475.1 GW cumulative, of which 406.0 GW is in the EU. Germany added 17 GW to reach 117 GW. Spain added 11 GW to reach 59 GW. France added 7.4 GW to reach 37 GW. Italy reached 44 GW. The report says Europe’s share of the global total fell because China added far more. For European policy, see the European solar incentives overview, the 2026 EU subsidy tracker and solar subsidies in Germany.

Solar Market Size in the Middle East and the GCC

In the Gulf (the GCC, or Gulf Cooperation Council), Saudi Arabia and the UAE are the two markets with separate figures in the IEA PVPS 2026 Snapshot. Saudi Arabia added 6.8 GW in 2025 and entered the annual top ten. Its cumulative capacity rose from 6.7 GW to 13 GW. The UAE reached 8.9 GW cumulative after adding 1.3 GW. Both markets were almost entirely utility-scale (large power plants).

The report’s Saudi figures do not add up exactly. 6.7 GW plus 6.8 GW is 13.5 GW, but the report prints 13 GW. Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan and Egypt are not reported as separate lines in the tables. So this page gives no capacity for them. The report notes that the Middle East and Africa remain underrepresented in total installed capacity. It also notes that much of the region’s potential is still in the development and financing pipeline. The report also lists manufacturing projects in Oman, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Morocco. For local rules, start with the Middle East compliance hub and the UAE guide.

The same report gives South Africa 12 GW cumulative after 3.6 GW added in 2025. See Africa solar compliance for the regulatory side.

Which Countries Are Growing Solar the Fastest?

Among the countries with separate figures in the report, Saudi Arabia grew its cumulative capacity the most in 2025 (+94%). Lithuania came next (+48%, from a small base). India and Pakistan followed (+44% each). Growth here means the change in cumulative capacity from end-2024 to end-2025.

We calculated the percentages from the report’s rounded values, for example 180 / 125 = 1.44. So treat them as approximate, to within about two points. Pakistan’s figures are IEA PVPS estimates. The table is not complete below +26%. Smaller markets in Table 6-2 are not shown, such as Portugal (+20%), Malaysia (+19%) and Switzerland (+18%). Countries that are not listed separately in the report are not ranked here.

Solar as a Share of National Electricity

IEA PVPS estimates that the 2,974 GW fleet matches about 3,378 TWh (terawatt-hours, a unit of energy) of annual production. The report puts that at roughly 10.5% of estimated 2026 global electricity demand (30,844 TWh) and 12.0% of consumption (27,167 TWh). Those percentages are the report’s. Dividing its stated TWh figures gives 11.0% (3,378 / 30,844) and 12.4% (3,378 / 27,167). So use the shares as approximate. The report calls the method theoretical and optimistic. It says the method does not replace official data.

The report counts 35 countries with an estimated penetration (share of electricity demand) above 10%, up from 27 in 2024 and 18 in 2023. The EU is at nearly 15% of demand and China above 13%.

The table lists the ten highest values in the report’s Figure 8, then seven large markets for comparison. Figure 8 covers key IEA PVPS countries and other major markets, so it is not a ranking of every country. Where the figure also shows a higher gross value before curtailment, the table uses the lower value. This applies to Spain (gross 32.1%), Cyprus (29.4%), Australia (22.0%) and France (8.5%). Greece’s 31.4% is not adjusted. The report says curtailment in Greece is a real issue that lowers the true figure. Pakistan’s share rests on estimated capacity and unknown curtailment.

Share and installed GW differ because demand differs. China and India rank first and third among countries on capacity. But they sit at only 13.1% and 14.2%, because their electricity demand is very large. The report also notes that countries with high shares are seeing more curtailment, negative prices and grid constraints. Negative prices happen when there is more power than buyers need, so sellers pay to send it.

What Does “Solar Market Size” Mean?

“Solar market size” can mean three things: installed capacity in GW, annual additions in GW, or market value in money. This page covers the first two. It gives no revenue or investment figure. The IEA PVPS Snapshot does not report market value, and no second source with a compatible boundary has been read for this page. Treat any figure in dollars or euros as a different measure and check which boundary it uses.

For related country-level economics, see solar payback period by country and the future of solar energy. For company-level data, see top solar companies by revenue.

What These Numbers Mean for Solar Businesses

Volume sits in a few markets. China added around 60% of 2025 capacity, and the EU, USA and India together added around 23%. The report also says growth outside China was around 300 GW. That is where most international design and installation work competes.

Two constraints from the report matter for project teams. First, grid connection, permitting and curtailment now limit deployment more than module cost does, in a growing number of markets. Second, the report says support for distributed PV is shifting as penetration (solar’s share of power) rises. It is moving toward self-consumption, load shifting (moving power use to sunnier hours) and storage. Model your self-consumption, export and curtailment assumptions explicitly.

SurgePV supports solar design software, shading analysis, the generation and financial tool and solar proposals. The pages for Brazil, Türkiye, Australia and the Netherlands cover market detail for those countries. For glossary terms used above, see utility-scale solar, rooftop solar and distributed generation.

To start a project for any of these markets, book a SurgePV demo.

Sources

• IEA PVPS Task 1, Snapshot of Global PV Markets 2026 (report IEA-PVPS T1-49:2026, April 2026): Table 1 (p. 7), Section 2.1 (pp. 10-11), Section 3 and Figure 8 (p. 13), Annex Tables 6-1 and 6-2 (p. 20). Landing page: iea-pvps.org/snapshot-reports/snapshot-2026. The report says its data are preliminary and that the 31st edition of Trends in Photovoltaic Applications is due in Q4 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which country has the most installed solar capacity?

China has the most, with 1,463.5 GW at the end of 2025. That is about 49% of the world’s 2,974 GW (IEA PVPS Snapshot 2026). The EU as a bloc had 406.0 GW. The United States, the next country, had 268.2 GW. China’s figure includes IEA PVPS estimates above official reporting.

How much solar capacity did the world add in 2025?

The world added 698 GW in 2025. That is at least 608 GW from official and industry data, plus about 90 GW of IEA PVPS expert estimates. It is 16% more than the 602 GW added in 2024. China accounted for around 60% of additions.

Which countries added the most solar in 2025?

China added 415 GW (349.8 GW on official reporting). The EU added 65.7 GW, India 55.9 GW, the United States 43.2 GW and Germany 16.9 GW, per IEA PVPS Table 1.

What share of global electricity comes from solar?

IEA PVPS estimates the end-2025 solar fleet could supply about 10.5% of 2026 global electricity demand and 12.0% of consumption. This is a theoretical estimate, not metered generation. The report counts 35 countries above 10% penetration (share of electricity demand). Greece and Spain are above 30%.

How big is the solar market in the Middle East and GCC?

In the IEA PVPS Snapshot 2026, Saudi Arabia added 6.8 GW in 2025 and reached 13 GW cumulative, up from 6.7 GW. The UAE reached 8.9 GW after adding 1.3 GW. Both markets are almost entirely utility-scale (large power plants). The report does not give separate figures for Oman, Kuwait, Qatar or Bahrain.

Which countries are growing solar the fastest?

Among the countries with separate figures in the report, Saudi Arabia grew cumulative capacity by about 94% in 2025. Lithuania grew by about 48% from a small base. India and Pakistan grew by about 44% each, China by about 40% and South Africa by about 38%. Percentages are calculated from the report’s rounded values.

What does solar market size mean?

On this page it means installed capacity and annual additions in GW (DC). It does not include market value in money, which the IEA PVPS Snapshot does not report.