Contents
- Solar photovoltaic generation statistics: Global solar output and growth in 2025
- Solar photovoltaic generation statistics: Country and regional generation comparisons
- Solar photovoltaic generation statistics: Electricity shares and adoption
- U.S. solar photovoltaic generation by year and scale
- U.S. solar photovoltaic generation by state and month
- Sources
Solar photovoltaic generation statistics: Global solar output and growth in 2025
Global solar generation reached 2,778 TWh in 2025, a record that put it ahead of wind generation that year. The 2025 total is distinct from the annual increase: solar generation rose by 636 TWh during 2025. That increase was 33% greater than the 479 TWh increase recorded in 2024. In 2023, the annual increase was 331 TWh. These figures describe changes in generation across each year, not installed capacity. Source: Ember, Global Electricity Review 2026: Electricity demand and supply trends
The long-run comparison is also substantial. Global solar output in 2025 was almost 11 times its 2015 level of 256 TWh. Over the same 2015–2025 period, solar’s share of global electricity generation rose from 1.1% to 8.7%. Ember also reports that solar met 50% of global electricity demand growth over 2023–2025. For 2025 alone, it says solar met 75% of demand growth. The two demand-growth figures cover different periods and should be read separately. Source: Ember, Global Electricity Review 2026: Electricity demand and supply trends
These headline figures are for “solar” generation as reported by Ember. They should not be read as photovoltaic-only totals: the cited global and country data do not isolate PV from other solar generation. This distinction matters when comparing the figures with U.S. EIA statistics explicitly labelled photovoltaic. The generation figures also describe electricity produced over a period, while a share expresses solar generation relative to total electricity generation.
Solar photovoltaic generation statistics: Country and regional generation comparisons
China led the 2025 generation totals, producing 1,175 TWh of solar electricity. The OECD countries combined generated 1,078 TWh, while the United States generated 389 TWh. Ember describes the U.S. total as roughly one-third of China’s and identifies the United States as the next-largest country after China. These are total generation comparisons for 2025, not annual growth figures. Source: Ember, Global Electricity Review 2026: Electricity demand and supply trends
| Geography | Solar generation in 2025 |
|---|---|
| China | 1,175 TWh |
| OECD countries combined | 1,078 TWh |
| United States | 389 TWh |
Source for table: Ember, Global Electricity Review 2026: Electricity demand and supply trends
Annual increases show a different comparison. China added 336 TWh in 2025, the largest national increase. U.S. solar generation increased by 85 TWh, or 28%, the second-largest increase globally. India added 53 TWh, a 37% rise from the previous year. Pakistan added a record 17 TWh; its solar generation increase was 85% higher than in 2024, following a 2024 increase that was 75% higher than in 2023. The 17 TWh is Pakistan’s annual addition, not its total generation. Source: Ember, Global Electricity Review 2026: Electricity demand and supply trends
China’s generation growth rate eased from 44% in 2024 to 40% in 2025, even as its 2025 addition was the largest. Growth rates and added TWh measure different things: the former compares generation with the prior year, while the latter states the absolute change. Ember also reports that solar was the fastest-growing power source in at least 23 countries in 2025. As with the other Ember comparisons, these are solar rather than PV-only observations. Source: Ember, Global Electricity Review 2026: Electricity demand and supply trends
Solar photovoltaic generation statistics: Electricity shares and adoption
A generation share provides context that a total alone cannot. Hungary’s solar share of electricity generation reached 27% in 2025, up from 24% in 2024. Chile reached 25% in 2025, after 23% in 2024, and ranked second globally by solar share. The figures compare solar with each country’s own electricity generation; they are not shares of global output. Source: Ember, Global Electricity Review 2026: Electricity demand and supply trends
The threshold for a country to rank among the top 10 by solar share was 17% in 2025, compared with 13.5% in 2024. The number of countries above the 10% mark also expanded: 50 countries generated more than 10% of their electricity from solar in 2025, compared with 15 in 2020. These counts use a country-wide share threshold, so they include countries regardless of the absolute size of their electricity systems. Source: Ember, Global Electricity Review 2026: Electricity demand and supply trends
Ember separately identifies larger electricity markets as countries with more than 5 TWh of total solar generation. Among this group, 19 countries had solar shares above 10% in 2025. Keeping that market definition in view helps distinguish a broad country count from a count limited to markets that also clear a generation-volume threshold. The reported global solar generation per capita was 338 kWh in 2025; this is an average across the global population, not a household or individual-use measure. Source: Ember, Global Electricity Review 2026: Electricity demand and supply trends
| Share or adoption measure | Reported value |
|---|---|
| Global electricity from solar, 2015 | 1.1% |
| Global electricity from solar, 2025 | 8.7% |
| Countries above 10% solar share, 2020 | 15 |
| Countries above 10% solar share, 2025 | 50 |
Source for table: Ember, Global Electricity Review 2026: Electricity demand and supply trends
Eurostat’s separate 2025 release reports that 47% of the European Union’s electricity came from renewables. Its solar measure includes both photovoltaic and solar thermal generation. That scope is relevant when setting the release alongside PV-focused statistics: the 47% figure is the renewable share overall, not the solar share, and its solar category is broader than PV alone. Source: Eurostat, 47% of EU’s electricity came from renewables in 2025
U.S. solar photovoltaic generation by year and scale
The EIA’s Electric Power Annual reports U.S. all-sector solar photovoltaic generation of 300,634 thousand megawatthours in 2024. Its table divides generation by scale: 216,715 thousand megawatthours came from utility-scale PV, and estimated small-scale PV generation was 83,918 thousand megawatthours. The estimated total is reported in its own column. Components may not sum exactly to the total because the figures are independently rounded. Source: EIA, Electric Power Annual 2024, Table 3.1.B
| U.S. all-sector photovoltaic generation | 2024, thousand megawatthours |
|---|---|
| Estimated total solar photovoltaic | 300,634 |
| Utility-scale solar photovoltaic | 216,715 |
| Estimated small-scale solar photovoltaic | 83,918 |
Source for table: EIA, Electric Power Annual 2024, Table 3.1.B
For 2023, the same table reports estimated total U.S. PV generation of 236,090 thousand megawatthours. This permits a direct annual comparison of the reported totals for 2023 and 2024, while the separate 2024 entries show the utility-scale and small-scale composition. Small-scale estimates include rooftop generation and other qualifying small facilities; they should not be confused with the utility-scale column. Source: EIA, Electric Power Annual 2024, Table 3.1.B
A later EIA analysis tracks estimated U.S. small-scale or rooftop PV systems smaller than 1 MW. It reports generation of 18,812 GWh in 2016 and 92,979 GWh in 2025. This decade-spanning series uses GWh and a stated system-size boundary. The annual report’s 2024 table instead uses thousand megawatthours and groups all sectors by scale. Both describe generation, but their presentation and periods differ. Source: EIA, U.S. small-scale solar generation has quadrupled in the last decade
U.S. solar photovoltaic generation by state and month
In 2025, California produced 34,411 GWh of estimated small-scale solar generation, equal to 37% of the U.S. small-scale total. Arizona produced 5,795 GWh, or over 6% of the national total. These state observations refer to small-scale solar generation in 2025, rather than all solar generation at utility and small scales combined. Source: EIA, U.S. small-scale solar generation has quadrupled in the last decade
California’s rooftop solar generation grew 8% between 2024 and 2025. Arizona’s small-scale generation grew 6% year over year in 2025; its largest reported increase occurred between 2022 and 2023, when generation grew 22%. At the national level, small-scale generation grew 25% in 2022 compared with 2021. The periods and scopes differ across these observations: the national 2022 rate is not a state rate, and the California figure specifically describes rooftop generation. Source: EIA, U.S. small-scale solar generation has quadrupled in the last decade
| State | Small-scale solar generation, 2016 | Small-scale solar generation, 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Texas | 391 GWh | 5,408 GWh |
| Florida | 205 GWh | 5,198 GWh |
Source for table: EIA, U.S. small-scale solar generation has quadrupled in the last decade
Texas and Florida illustrate how state generation totals changed over the decade: Texas rose from 391 GWh in 2016 to 5,408 GWh in 2025, while Florida rose from 205 GWh to 5,198 GWh. These figures are EIA estimates for small-scale solar generation and should be interpreted within that category. Source: EIA, U.S. small-scale solar generation has quadrupled in the last decade
The EIA’s monthly table covers electric utilities and reports utility-scale PV net generation, not the nationwide all-sector PV total. In 2024, the reported values were 1,291 thousand megawatthours in January, 3,303 in May, 3,216 in June, 3,164 in July, and 1,870 in December. The selected months show reported generation at several points in the year; they do not form a complete monthly series. Source: EIA, Electric Power Annual 2024, Table 3.2.B
| Month in 2024 | Electric-utility PV net generation, thousand megawatthours |
|---|---|
| January | 1,291 |
| May | 3,303 |
| June | 3,216 |
| July | 3,164 |
| December | 1,870 |
Source for table: EIA, Electric Power Annual 2024, Table 3.2.B