The UK solar industry has entered a new period of acceleration, with the latest government figures confirming that 1.9 GW of new photovoltaic capacity was added in the twelve months leading up to October 2025.
This brings the UK’s total installed solar capacity to 20.7 GW, marking a 10.4% year-on-year increase and signaling one of the strongest growth periods the sector has recorded in the past decade.
For an industry once viewed as vulnerable to policy shifts, the new data paints a picture of stability, confidence, and long-awaited momentum.
After years of incremental growth driven primarily by domestic rooftops, the UK is now witnessing a notable shift towards large, utility-scale solar farms – many of them catalysed by the long-term certainty provided by the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme.
This shift matters. Not just because the numbers are larger, but because it suggests the UK’s solar industry is leaving behind its stop-start history and aligning with the kind of sustained, pipeline-driven development that has long defined the offshore wind sector.
For the first time in years, solar is behaving like a mature infrastructure industry, rather than a collection of individually financed, small to mid-scale projects.
A Year Shaped by Utility-Scale Solar
While household installations continue to rise steadily – buoyed by zero-VAT rules and continued interest in home energy independence – the unmistakable engine of this year’s growth has been the arrival of grid-scale solar farms energising across England, Wales, and Scotland.
The majority of 2025’s utility-scale additions stem from projects awarded in recent CfD allocation rounds, many of which achieved record-low strike prices at the time. These contracts are now translating into real-world energisations, feeding hundreds of megawatts of clean power into the grid.
For policymakers, this is a validation of the CfD model’s ability to drive down costs and mobilise large volumes of investment. For developers, it proves that the long delays caused by pandemic disruption, supply chain turbulence, and grid connection queues are beginning to ease.
Industry analysts note that the UK’s solar landscape in 2025 looks markedly different from that of even three years ago. Supply chains have normalised following the manufacturing crunch of 2021–2023.
Panel prices have softened, and developers are increasingly able to secure finance at competitive rates. Crucially, the grid’s Accelerated Electrical Connections Plan – introduced to unblock historic bottlenecks – has resulted in more predictable timelines and prioritised access for renewable generation.
Together, these factors have created the conditions for a genuine utility-scale surge – one reflected clearly in the 1.9 GW added within a single year.
Cleve Hill: A Landmark Project Signalling a New Era
No project better symbolises this shift than Cleve Hill Solar Park, now known as Project Cleve Hill, located just outside Faversham on the north Kent coast. Widely regarded as one of the most significant renewable energy developments in Europe, Cleve Hill represents a step change in how solar farms are conceived, designed, and integrated into the national grid.
With an expected capacity of 373 MW of solar generation, supported by a substantial co-located battery installation, Cleve Hill stands as a blueprint for the future of large-scale solar infrastructure.
The project is unique not only for its scale but for its designation as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) – a status that acknowledges its strategic importance to the UK’s decarbonisation strategy.
Although full energisation is expected in 2026, major construction milestones were achieved throughout 2025, contributing indirectly to the sense of momentum captured in the latest capacity figures.
Cleve Hill’s significance extends beyond its immediate output: it demonstrates that mega-projects once deemed ambitious or unconventional for the UK are now entirely viable.
Its impact will be both practical and symbolic. Practically, it will provide clean electricity equivalent to tens of thousands of homes while helping the grid manage imbalances through its battery component.
Symbolically, it signals a new appetite for scale – an understanding that meeting the UK’s goal of a decarbonised electricity system by 2035 requires generation projects measured in the hundreds of megawatts, not tens.
A Market Growing Beyond Its Domestic Roots
For much of the past decade, UK solar growth has been supported primarily by domestic and small commercial installations. And although this segment remains resilient, the 2025 data clearly shows a market evolving beyond its rooftop identity.
More than half of all new installed capacity this year came from large ground-mounted projects, a proportion that has not been seen since the height of early 2010s’ large-scale solar deployment.
The shift reflects an important structural transition: solar is no longer viewed as a dispersed technology composed of thousands of small systems but as a cornerstone of national energy infrastructure. Investors now view UK solar through the same lens as wind – stable, scalable, and backed by a consistent policy framework. That confidence is reshaping the pipeline.
Current industry tracking indicates that the UK now has over 14 GW of ground-mounted solar in the consented or late-stage planning pipeline, plus an additional wave of early-stage proposals that could come online later in the decade. Many of these projects integrate storage as standard, reflecting the grid’s need for flexible, dispatchable support as renewable penetration increases.
If even a portion of this pipeline progresses as expected, annual installations of 2–3 GW could become typical by the end of the 2020s – a level of growth that would dramatically accelerate the UK’s progress toward its climate commitments.
SolarAdvice on a Defining Year
Reflecting on the newly released figures, Kian Milroy, Chief Writer at SolarAdvice.co.uk, describes 2025 as a pivotal year that confirms the direction of travel for the UK solar industry.
“Adding nearly 2 GW of solar in a single year is impressive in its own right, but what really matters is the foundation it reveals,” Milroy says. “This isn’t a one-off spike – it’s the start of a more stable, utility-scale era. Projects like Cleve Hill show that the UK isn’t just experimenting with large solar anymore. We’re building energy infrastructure that will define the next twenty years.
The impact on consumers shouldn’t be underestimated either. As the utility-scale sector expands, costs fall across the board, from household systems to commercial installations. A stronger national pipeline means a more confident industry – and that benefits everyone.”
Milroy notes that this year’s figures echo the early stages of the offshore wind boom, where sustained CfD support transformed a previously fragmented sector into a global success story. Solar, he suggests, may be at the beginning of a similar trajectory.
Looking Ahead: A Sector Entering Its Next Phase
The injection of 1.9 GW into the UK system is more than a numerical milestone – it signals a new phase of maturity for the industry.
The combination of falling costs, grid reform, and the stabilising influence of CfD-backed development has created a foundation on which the UK can build a resilient, large-scale solar sector capable of underpinning national decarbonisation efforts.
As Cleve Hill moves closer to operation and more utility-scale projects progress through planning and construction, the UK enters 2026 with momentum unmatched in recent years.
If policy reform continues and grid upgrades maintain pace, the coming decade could mark the first time solar rivals wind as one of the UK’s dominant sources of new electricity generation.
Solar Advice UK
Kian Milroy
contact@solaradvice.co.uk
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