UK added at least 2.5 GW solar in 2025, revised data reveals
UK added at least 2.5 GW solar in 2025, revised data reveals
From: PV Magazine
Provisional capacity data updated with 1.5 GW of solar added to total deployment figure. New capacity additions include largest solar plant to date and a record year for rooftop installations.
Connected in 2025, Cleve Hill is the largest operational UK solar project to date.
Image: Quinbrook
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The United Kingdom added 2.5 GW of new deployed solar capacity in the first 11 months of 2025, a significant upward revision to government data has revealed.
Solar capacity in the United Kingdom totaled 21.5 GW at the end of November 2025, according to the latest briefing from the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). While DESNZ figures are provisional and subject to revision as new data becomes available, capacity added in 2025 represents at least 13% growth in PV deployment.
The 2.5 GW of additions is a step up from 2024, when 2.2 GW of new capacity was recorded for the first 11 months of the year. Accelerated capacity additions have been driven by a combination of new utility-scale plants and a record year for rooftop installations.
New large-scale plants connected in 2025 include the 373 MW Cleve Hill solar farm, the largest operating UK plant to date. Distributed solar has also grown significantly and the UK annual record for rooftop solar installations was broken in November 2025. Certification body MCS recorded 203,125 installations in early November, beating the previous annual record set in 2011.
The record for the most PV installations in a calendar year has already been broken in 2025, with 244,000 recorded in the first eleven months. However, the annual capacity addition record of 4.3 GW set in 2015 is not under threat.
Significant growth in government-deployed capacity figures is the result of more installations with capacities over 25 MW being added to the data. DESNZ reports it has been working with external partners to identify operational sites and this has led to an additional 1.5 GW of capacity being added to the total.