Original Article

Snapshot of photovoltaics − March 2025

European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Via E. Fermi 2749, 21027 Ispra (VA), Italy

^* e-mail: arnulf.jaeger-waldau@ec.europa.eu

Received: 14 March 2025
Accepted: 10 April 2025
Published online: 6 May 2025

Abstract

Clean energy investments increased by 10.7% per annum to USD 2,083 billion or 1.9% of global gross domestic product in 2024. Investments in solar photovoltaics even grew by 20.5% to reach USD 514 billion and resulted in the installation of new photovoltaic systems with almost 600 GWp. The global installed solar photovoltaic capacity exceeded 2.2 TWp at the end of 2024, doubling in less than three years. The number of countries installing 1 GWp per year or more has increased to 36. After the 2022 price spike for solar photovoltaic hardware and battery storage, prices in both markets continued to decrease in 2024. Levelised costs of electricity for non-tracking solar photovoltaic systems as well as levelised cost of battery storage reached new lows. The global benchmark of levelised cost for electricity for tracking PV systems decreased as well, but is still considerably higher mainly due to higher costs for labour, balance of systems and debt in the USA. The general trend towards electrification of heating, transport and industry creates additional demand for renewable electricity, including solar. The annual growth rate of the photovoltaic market is expected to be around 20% for 2025. However, a more rapid deployment of renewable energy is needed to stay on track for no more than 1.5 °C global temperature increase.