The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) PVPS 2025 Snapshot of Global PV Markets reveals record-breaking growth in solar PV worldwide, with over 600GW of new PV capacity added in 2024.
This pushed global cumulative installed capacity to more than 2.2TW, up from 1.6 TW the previous year.
China accounted for nearly 60% of all new PV installations, commissioning between 309GW and a possible 357GW, bringing its cumulative total to over 1TW – almost half the global total.
The rest of the world contributed 244.6GW, with strong growth in Europe (71.4GW), the USA (47.1GW), India (31.9GW), and Brazil (14.3GW).
Expansion and fall
While the global PV market expanded by over 30%, the growth rate fell from 89% in 2023.
Oversupply in module manufacturing has driven prices down but strained profitability for producers. According to IEA’s data, this price drop catalysed market growth, especially in utility-scale segments, which dominated 2024 installations.
PV provided over 10% of global electricity consumption for the first time. In 27 countries – including Greece, the Netherlands, and Germany – solar generation surpassed 10% of national electricity use, though curtailment is increasingly an issue where grid flexibility lags behind deployment.
Policy developments in 2024 focused on energy transition goals, storage integration, and boosting local manufacturing.
However, local production faces challenges amid intense price competition from Chinese imports. The USA, India, Türkiye, and Brazil responded with tariffs and incentives to protect or stimulate domestic PV industries.
Forecast
Looking ahead, the IEA expects steady growth in most markets, though local policy shifts and infrastructure bottlenecks may influence deployment.
As storage, hybrid systems, and new applications like green hydrogen scale up, global solar deployment must exceed 1 TW annually to match manufacturing output and decarbonisation targets.
For stakeholders in the international solar and storage industry, 2024 underscored the urgency of grid adaptation, the risks of supply chain overcapacity, and the continued rise of solar as the dominant renewable power source.
Infographic credit: IEA-PVPs
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