According to data from the think tank Ember, the global installed capacity of solar photovoltaic power will reach 647 GW in 2025, an increase of 11% over the previous year.
Combined with wind power, these two technologies added a record 814 GW of solar PV capacity in 2025, with nearly 4 GW of new solar PV capacity added for every 1 GW of new wind power.
More than half of the solar PV installations in 2025 came from China, totaling 378 GW. Most of China's solar PV installations in 2025 were concentrated in the first half of the year, with a total of 237 GW installed in the first five months. May alone saw a record 111 GW installed, thanks to pricing reforms for grid-connected renewable energy, which enabled projects to be commercially operational before June.
Despite this record-breaking increase in new solar PV capacity in China, data from the China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA) indicates that new installations are expected to decline in the coming years. The industry organization predicts that China will add 180 to 240 GW of solar PV capacity in 2026, down from 315 GW in 2025, consistent with Ember's data.
Another record-breaking market in 2025 is India, which added 49 GW of solar PV, up from 31.9 GW in 2024, as shown in the chart above. Converted to GWac, this equates to 37.7 GW of new capacity added in 2025, roughly in line with data from Indian research companies Mercom (36.6 GW) and JMK Research (37.9 GW).
Unlike China, India is expected to further accelerate the installation of new solar PV capacity in 2026, with an estimated 42.5 GW, up from 37.9 GW in 2025, according to JMK Research.
“The scale and speed of solar power is unprecedented in the power sector. With the accelerating increase in wind power capacity, these technologies are moving towards becoming the backbone of global power supply,” said Leonard Heberer, data analyst at Ember.
The cumulative solar PV capacity reached 2.9 TW by the end of 2025 and is expected to surpass the 3 TW mark in the first few months of 2026. The previous milestone was achieved in November 2024, increasing cumulative installed capacity from 1TW to 2TW in just two years.
By the end of 2025, China will account for nearly half of the 2.9TW solar PV installed capacity, reaching 1.4TW.
Furthermore, Ember added that since the outbreak of the Middle East conflict, the output of all current global solar PV and wind power installations has avoided the equivalent of nearly 330TWh of natural gas power generation. This translates to potential savings of over $40 billion.
“The escalating situation in the Middle East serves as a stark reminder of the risks of relying on imported oil and gas. Solar, wind, and battery power offer importers a truly secure energy path that is cheaper, faster to deploy, and free from geopolitical entanglements,” added Kingsmill Bond, energy strategist at Ember.
