UK records 513 MW of January-May solar additions

Inclusion of deployment figures sourced from Ofgem bring UK solar capacity close to 19 GW. Latest electricity generation data shows strong start to 2025 for solar.

UK solar deployment reached 18.9 GW at the end of May 2025, according to the latest government statistics.

The inclusion of new data from energy regulator Ofgem has led to a marked increase in deployment figures, with more than 600 MW of capacity added as a result.

Monthly solar deployment figures remain subject to further revision, but the provisional data for May 2025 show around 1.4 GW of new solar capacity was added since May 2024, an increase of 8.1%. By calendar year, 513 MW of PV was added in the first five months of 2025 compared to 778 MW for the same period in 2024. However, this figure is likely to increase due to lags in data.

Domestic PV continues to account for the bulk of solar installations in the United Kingdom, but only represents 30% of total capacity. In May 2025, 66% of the new schemes installed were on a residential building, adding 65 MW of capacity. The UK government estimates ground-mounted solar accounts for roughly 59% of total capacity.

The release of revised deployment data coincided with the UK government’s latest energy generation statistics, which revealed solar had a strong start to 2025 in generation terms.

Generation from solar was 2.8 TWh in Q1 2025, up 45% on the first three months of 2024. This bucked the trend for renewables, which saw the share of the electricity generation mix drop 4.9 percentage points to 46.3% due to low wind speeds. Despite double-digit gains in 2024, PV only accounted for 3.6% of total generation. UK solar generation, however, is typically low in the first quarter of the year.