This brings the cumulative installed solar capacity in the UK to 23.2GW across 2,131,000 installations.
October 1, 2026
The UK has added 291,000 new solar PV installations in the 12 months to August 2026, the most in any 12-month period since 2012.
This is according to the latest data from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), which highlighted that in August alone, there were 24,154 new installations for a combined 124MW of PV capacity.
This brings the cumulative installed solar in the UK to 23.2GW across 2,131,000 installations. It is also a 9% increase from August 2025, with 1.9GW of new capacity.
“This is clear progress showing households and businesses are willing to invest in net zero tech that helps them take control of their energy bills and reduces their exposure to gas price shocks,” said Jess Ralston, analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), regarding the 12-month period record of solar installations.
As shown in the chart below, nearly half of the cumulative installed solar capacity comes from PV systems above 5MW, totalling 10.3GW, despite the fact that the bulk of solar PV installations are domestic, which account for only about a third of the total cumulative installed capacity (30%).
Related:UK solar installations approach 172,000 in 2026, government data shows
“Domestic's share of capacity dropped rapidly after the first years of FiT and remained around 24% since 2017. It has crept back up over the last four years, driven by a surge in new installations. In August 2026, 17,285 of the new schemes were installed on a residential building, adding a total of 98 MW. Over the last 12 months, over 1 GW of domestic solar has been installed, across more than 195,000 homes,” explained DESNZ.
In the first eight months of 2026, 1 GW of new PV capacity has been installed across all system sizes. Projects between 4kW and 10kW have had the most growth this year, with 404.4MW of new additions, followed by projects up to 4kW with 224.8MW.
Moreover, between 2025 and 2026, 39 solar farms accredited under Contracts for Difference (CfDs) entered commercial operation and accounted for more than 1GW of capacity.
Region-wise, the South West continues to have the most cumulative installed solar across the UK, with nearly 4.6GW. It is followed by the South East and East of England with 3.8GW and 3.7GW, respectively.
On top of releasing the latest data for solar PV installations across the UK in the month of August, DESNZ also published key metrics for the second quarter of 2026.
One of the highlights for Q2 2026 is that UK production of solar, wind and hydro was up year-on-year by 7.9%, while the rest of the technologies all experienced a decrease. The increase in production from renewables was due to increased capacity and higher wind for the quarter, which accounted for 11% of the total production in the quarter.
Related:Summer sun boosted UK’s solar generation record in July
Moreover, renewables generation was up by 5% year-on-year, with 38.3TWh in Q2 2026. As mentioned above, the increase was due to the rise in wind generation, with both onshore and offshore wind reaching the highest Q2 values in the recorded time series. Overall, renewables’ share of electricity generation reached a record high of 55.8% in Q2 2026.
Although the generation increase was driven by wind capacity, when looking at installed renewable energy capacity between Q2 2025 and Q2 2026, solar PV has been leading the charge. Three-quarters of the 2.7GW of new renewable energy installed during that period came from solar PV, with 2.1GW.
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Jonathan Touriño Jacobo
Section Editor, Jonathan Touriño Jacobo
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