Generation data for the first half of 2025 shows a record start for solar, while new government capacity data points to accelerating deployment and larger installations.
August 28, 2025
Matthew Lynas
A sunny start to 2025 combined with ongoing deployment has led to solar breaking generation records for the first half of the year.
Image: Nick Fewing, Unsplash
UK solar has set new generation records in the first half of 2025 as deployment gathers pace. Solar power generation in Great Britain was up 32% in the first six months of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, according to Ember. The think tank’s analysis reported 9.91 TWh of generation for the first half of 2025, and found solar generation has broken records for five months in a row since March.
Great Britain has enjoyed one of the sunniest years on record in 2025, which combined with ongoing solar deployment has led to the record-breaking levels of solar generation.
The latest solar deployment statistics from the UK government – published on the same day as Ember’s “A record year for British solar” report – confirm the direction of travel. There were 22,406 new PV installations in July 2025 accounting for 106 MW of capacity, the fourth most new installations in a month on record. This brings total recorded solar capacity to 19.1 GW across 1.8 million installations, an increase of 1.3 GW since July 2024. Excluding Northern Ireland, which shares a grid with Ireland, deployed capacity in Great Britain was 18.7 GW.
Deployment statistics published by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) are provisional and likely to be updated as new data becomes available, but the DESNZ numbers already suggest a shift toward larger capacity projects being deployed across Great Britain.
At least 42% of total UK solar capacity (8.1 GW) comes from ground-mounted or standalone solar installations, according to the data, including 15 solar farms supported through the UK contracts for difference (CfD) scheme – 13 of which switched on in 2025. DESNZ expects this number to increase.
Ember’s report also noted a shift toward larger installations on domestic rooftops. The think tank found larger arrays make up half of all new household-scale solar capacity compared to just 5% under 2010 to 2019 feed-in tariff, when smaller installations were incentivized through better rates.
This is borne out in the latest UK government deployment statistics. UK deployed capacity for arrays up to 4 kW was recorded as 4 GW at the end of July 2025, compared to 1.4 GW for 4 kW to 10 kW arrays, however capacity additions were roughly even for the year to date, at 258 MW and 226 MW respectively.
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