A record year for British solar

This report by Ember analyzes the performance of solar and wind power in Great Britain during the first half of 2025, highlighting how record-breaking solar generation compensated for below-average wind speeds to maintain clean power levels and displace gas generation in early summer.

• Great Britain experienced record-breaking solar power in the first half of 2025, with generation increasing by 32% to reach a record 9.91 TWh. Solar generation broke records for five consecutive months starting in March 2025, and a peak of 14 GW was reached on the grid on July 8, which is 44% higher than the 2020 peak of 9.7 GW.
• Wind and solar generation in Great Britain are highly complementary; analysis from January 2017 to June 2025 shows that days with both low wind and low solar generation (below the 20th percentile for both) occur only 2% of the time. In the first half of 2025, a 2.4 TWh increase in solar share helped offset a 2.8 TWh reduction in wind share.
• Gas power generation reached record lows for May and June 2025, falling to 21% of total generation in June, displaced by strong wind and solar output. However, gas generation in the first half of 2025 was 5.7 TWh higher than the same period in 2024, primarily to fill a 3 TWh gap caused by falling power imports from Europe.
• Domestic solar installations are increasing in size; the 4-10 kW capacity band grew from 5% of installations below 10 kW in 2015 to 50% in 2025. Additionally, the 'Future Homes Standard' regulations will require newly built homes to have solar panels 'by default' before the end of 2025.
• The British government's Solar Roadmap targets solar capacity of just under 60 GW by 2030. To reduce reliance on expensive gas back-up during rare low-renewable periods, energy storage capacity is targeted to double by 2030.

APA

Mayo, F. (2025). A record year for British solar. Ember. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/08/a-record-year-for-british-solar-analysis-1.pdf

Chicago

Mayo, Frankie. A record year for British solar. Ember, 2025. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/08/a-record-year-for-british-solar-analysis-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Mayo |first1=Frankie |title=A record year for British solar |publisher=Ember |date=28 August 2025 |url=https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/08/a-record-year-for-british-solar-analysis-1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{mayo2025record, author = {Mayo, Frankie}, title = {{A record year for British solar}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2025}, month = aug, url = {https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/08/a-record-year-for-british-solar-analysis-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }