Turning to the sun: Solar rise in Central Europe

Central Europe's solar generation grew at twice the EU average rate between 2019 and 2024, with cumulative output increasing from 5 TWh to 29 TWh. While Hungary, Poland, and Czechia have seen significant surges—with Hungary reaching nearly 25% solar share in 2024—Slovakia has lagged due to policy hurdles. Despite this growth, the region's battery deployment remains low at 0.1 GW as of August 2025, though Poland has a substantial 7.3 GW project pipeline. The report argues that the region must improve grid flexibility and storage to sustain solar momentum and leverage its position as a global battery manufacturing hub.

• Solar electricity generation in Central Europe grew significantly faster than the EU average between 2019 and 2024. Cumulative output for Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia rose from 5 TWh to 29 TWh, a nearly six-fold increase, while the EU's overall increase was 2.5-fold (125 to 308 TWh).
• Hungary emerged as a global leader in solar generation, with solar energy contributing nearly 25% of its electricity generation in 2024. In June 2025, solar power set a monthly record by supplying 42% of Hungary's electricity.
• Poland and Czechia saw rapid solar expansion driven largely by residential installations and state support programs: "Mój Pråd" in Poland and "Nová zelená úsporám" in Czechia. Poland's solar generation grew from 0.7 TWh in 2019 to 15 TWh in 2024, and its cumulative installed capacity reached 23 GW by June 2025.
• Slovakia's solar growth lagged behind its neighbors until recently due to an eight-year moratorium on grid connections that ended in April 2021. However, it added 267 MW of capacity in 2023 and 274 MW in 2024.
• The region's national renewable energy targets for 2030 remain below the EU average of 66%. Projected shares for 2030 are 31% for Czechia, 42% for Hungary, 51% for Poland, and 26% for Slovakia.
• Large-scale battery deployment in Central Europe is lagging behind solar growth. As of August 2025, the region had only 0.1 GW of large-scale batteries, representing less than 2% of the EU's capacity. Poland has a significant project pipeline of 7.3 GW, while Hungary's pipeline is virtually absent.
• Central Europe is a major global hub for battery manufacturing. As of January 2025, Hungary hosted nearly 40% of the EU's cell assembly capacity, and Poland is among the world's top three battery exporters.

APA

Mindeková, T., & Petrovich, B. (2025). Turning to the sun: Solar rise in Central Europe. Ember. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/09/Report-Turning-to-the-sun_-Solar-rise-in-Central-Europe.pdf

Chicago

Mindeková, Tatiana, and Beatrice Petrovich. Turning to the sun: Solar rise in Central Europe. Ember, 2025. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/09/Report-Turning-to-the-sun_-Solar-rise-in-Central-Europe.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Mindeková |first1=Tatiana |last2=Petrovich |first2=Beatrice |title=Turning to the sun: Solar rise in Central Europe |publisher=Ember |date=10 September 2025 |url=https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/09/Report-Turning-to-the-sun_-Solar-rise-in-Central-Europe.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{mindekov2025turning, author = {Mindeková, Tatiana and Petrovich, Beatrice}, title = {{Turning to the sun: Solar rise in Central Europe}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2025}, month = sep, url = {https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/09/Report-Turning-to-the-sun_-Solar-rise-in-Central-Europe.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }