UK closes in on 18 GW following solar deployment data update

Revised data brings annual PV additions to 1.3 GW for 2024, putting 18 GW of total deployed capacity within touching distance. However, a significant increase in deployment speed is essential to hit UK government clean energy targets for 2030.

UK solar deployment is closing in on 18 GW, according to the latest government data for the end of January 2025.

The UK government’s department for energy security and net zero (DESNZ) recorded 17.9 GW of deployed capacity, with 69 MW added in the first month of the year. It follows an upward revision to official statistics that brought capacity to 17.8 GW for the end of 2024, up 200 MW on the 17.6 GW previously published by DESNZ.

DESNZ’s latest update brings total annual capacity additions for 2024 to 1.3 GW, only the fifth highest year on record. While the 69 MW of new capacity recorded for January 2025 trails the 241 MW added in January 2024, government deployment statistics are provisional and subject to revision as more data becomes available.

However, it is clear the pace of UK solar deployment will need to increase to hit government clean energy targets set for 2030. The UK government aims to have 45 GW of deployed solar capacity by the end of 2030 as part of a broader plan to decarbonize Great Britain’s electricity grid.

The project pipeline is growing. DESNZ Secretary of State Ed Miliband signed a flurry of development consent orders in 2024 for solar projects assessed through the United Kingdom’s nationally significant infrastructure project (NSIP) process, adding gigawatts to the pipeline of approved projects. Miliband is expected to rule on more utility-scale projects in 2025.

A proposed update to the UK Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme also acknowledged the need to deploy more NSIP-scale PV projects. DESNZ has mooted lengthening the commissioning window for eligible solar projects in a bid to support larger PV developments in the CfD process. A decision on the commissioning window and other changes, included extending CfD contract term lengths, is expected ahead of the seventh allocation round (AR7) which is due to open in summer 2025.