European Solar to Slow Down: Weakest Growth Globally in 2025

In 2025, Europe will see the slowest growth in new PV installations globally. This is what Solar Power Europe (Spe) predicts, sounding the alarm in its new Global Solar Outlook 2025 report, estimating that the increase will be a “modest 3%”. A figure that “reflects rather difficult market conditions”.

Among the main obstacles reported are grid constraints , delays in authorizations and political uncertainty related to the new German government , which are significantly slowing down the development of large-scale solar plants in Germany . In Spain , however, the market could “contract” as early as 2025 , under the combined pressure of below-expected prices, forced production cuts and infrastructure limitations.

France , Italy and Poland are not faring any better: their respective residential and rooftop PV markets are set to slow down, held back by a combination of “structural weakness”, “regulatory uncertainty” and “declining demand”.

And the slowdown is not just about Europe . According to Spe , the global solar market will lose momentum after 597 GW of new capacity was installed last year, 33% more than in 2023. Although the slowdown may partly represent a return to “normality” after the exceptional growth of recent years, Spe warns that 2025 will be a crucial year for the sector. Structural growth remains driven by China and the competitiveness of photovoltaics, thanks to record low prices and its technological versatility. However, external pressures are growing: from the strengthening of fossil fuel lobbies, to unstable macroeconomic conditions, to geopolitical imbalances. The result is an increasingly uncertain horizon, with markets that could diverge radically depending on the evolution of these risks.