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IEA PVPS has released its latest Trends in Photovoltaic Applications 2026 report, revealing that global cumulative installed PV capacity reached 2.96 TW by the end of 2025, following another year of strong market growth. Around 690 GW of new PV capacity was installed during the year, an increase of 15% compared with 2024.
The figures confirm another year of significant PV deployment, although growth was more moderate than during the exceptional expansion of the previous two years. Very low module costs, and continued strong deployment in China and other major markets supported further market growth in 2025.
China remained by far the world’s largest PV market, installing 415 GW in 2025, 16% more than in 2024, and accounting for around 60% of global installations. India moved into second place with 54 GW, followed by the United States with 43 GW, Germany with 18 GW and Pakistan with an estimated 14 GW.
At the same time, PV deployment continued to broaden geographically. Around 36 countries installed more than 1 GW in 2025, three more than in 2024. The European Union added 68 GW, an increase of 5% compared with the previous year and, if considered as a single market, would have ranked second globally for annual installed capacity.
Key highlights
* Distributed PV continued to expand, reaching 282 GW of new installations in 2025, up from 228 GW in 2024.
* Storage deployment accelerated strongly. Annual BESS energy-capacity additions in Europe and the United States combined increased from 2.9 GWh in 2020 to 79 GWh in 2025, more than a 25-fold increase.
* Manufacturing overcapacity persisted, with global module production exceeding annual installations while remaining well below available manufacturing capacity.
* N-type technology continued to gain market share, representing around 82% of crystalline-silicon wafers used for cell manufacturing in 2025.
* PV reached a theoretical global penetration of around 12%. The report estimates that global PV capacity installed by the end of 2025 avoids around 1.3 Gt CO₂eq of emissions annually, while the sector supports approximately 8.2 million jobs worldwide. At this scale, PV is no longer a marginal source of electricity in a growing number of markets. Its contribution increasingly extends beyond annual electricity production to the timing and location of electricity supply, system adequacy, grid services and resilience.
Together, these developments show a PV sector continuing to expand at very large scale while its role within electricity systems evolves. As deployment increases, storage and the integration of growing volumes of PV into electricity systems are becoming increasingly prominent themes alongside continued capacity growth.
The IEA PVPS Trends in Photovoltaic Applications 2026 report provides comprehensive data and analysis on global PV deployment, market and industry developments, technology and the evolving role of PV in electricity systems.
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