Gitnux/Report 2026

Solar Photovoltaic Industry Statistics

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Solar Photovoltaic Industry Statistics
Samuel NorbergWritten by Samuel Norberg·Fact-checked by Maya Johansson
Published
How this report is researched
01Editorial Scope

Gitnux editors write the brief first: the topic, the inclusion rules, and the frame for what belongs.

02Source Research

Agents search the published record and log every extracted figure back to the passage it came from.

Read our full methodology →

Search agents attach provenance to every extracted figure.

Next review: within 39 days

01 Industry overview

The solar photovoltaic industry at a glance

Solar photovoltaics added an estimated 698 GW in 2025, taking cumulative global capacity toward 2.8 TW as deployment continued to expand despite manufacturing overcapacity, grid constraints and policy uncertainty.

698 GW[1]
New PV capacity, 2025
2.26 TW[1]
Cumulative PV capacity, 2024
~60%[1]
China share of additions, 2025
10.8%[1]
Global electricity demand, 2024
Market size
Global cumulative photovoltaic capacity exceeded 2.26 TW at the end of 2024. At least 608 GW was installed during 2025, with IEA PVPS estimating the full-year market at up to 698 GW.[1]
Forecast & CAGR
The IEA expects global renewable power capacity to increase by 4,600 GW between 2025 and 2030, with solar PV accounting for almost 80% of the increase. Solar PV capacity is expected to more than double over the five-year period, although the IEA does not state a single PV-specific CAGR in the cited summary.[3]
Market share & regions
China accounted for around 60% of new global PV capacity in 2025, while the country represented 59% in 2024. In 2024, the European Union added 66 GW, the United States 47 GW and India 32 GW.[1]
Segmentation
Utility-scale systems represented about 62% of new installations in 2024, with distributed and prosumer systems making up the remainder. N-type technologies represented about 70% of global production, while bifacial modules accounted for more than 75%.[1]
Key players & concentration
Solar PV manufacturing remains highly concentrated in China: Chinese-headquartered companies accounted for 93% of global polysilicon capacity, 99% of wafer capacity, 91% of cell capacity and 82% of module capacity in the IEA's 2024 assessment. The top 10 companies held 55% of polysilicon, 60% of wafer, 47% of cell and 46% of module manufacturing capacity.[3]
Pricing
In the United States, module prices were around $0.27/Wdc in the third quarter of 2025. Average U.S. commercial system prices reached $1.72/Wdc in the fourth quarter of 2025, while utility-scale fixed-tilt and single-axis tracker systems cost $1.18/Wdc and $1.35/Wdc, respectively.[21][70]
Trends, drivers & challenges
Low costs, faster permitting and broad social acceptance are supporting continued PV growth, while grid integration, supply-chain vulnerabilities and financing constraints are increasing challenges. Curtailment is becoming more common in high-penetration markets, increasing the need for storage, grid flexibility and improved transmission.[3][1]
Consumer behavior & competition
Distributed PV continues to expand through self-consumption, prosumer models and new commercial business models, while utility-scale projects remain the largest installation segment. Competition is intense: the 10 largest module manufacturers shipped a record 500 GW in 2024, while aggressive pricing and overcapacity pressured margins.[1][86]
Regulation
Policy and regulatory changes have reduced the IEA's 2025-2030 renewable growth forecast by 5% compared with its previous outlook. Competitive auctions are expected to account for almost 60% of gross utility-scale renewable capacity additions during 2025-2030, increasing the importance of auction design, permitting and grid access.[3]
Latest news
Preliminary IEA PVPS data indicate that at least 608 GW of PV was installed globally in 2025, with a further 90 GW identified by experts, producing an estimated market range of up to 698 GW. The IEA separately reports that solar PV additions surpassed 600 GW in 2025 and cumulative capacity reached around 2.8 TW.[1][3]

02 Ranking

Top 10 Companies in the Solar Photovoltaic Industry

The leading companies in the solar photovoltaic industry, ranked on market impact, performance, momentum, innovation and brand popularity.

Updated November 10, 2026 · Next review December 10, 2026

Verdict

First Solar leads Gitnux's 2026 solar photovoltaic ranking with an Overall score of 9.5, with revenue growth 24.1% and operating margin 30.6% signals from PV manufacturing. SolarEdge is the highest-ranked inverter and optimizer manufacturer at 9.1, with USD1.184 billion revenue from solar power electronics and related products in 2025.

Ranked by Overall score · How we score ↓

Editor's top 3 picks

Where to start, by need.

  1. #1 Overall · Leader in thin-film PV module manufacturing

    First Solar

    US

    Ranked #1 · 9.5 · Thin-film PV module manufacturing

    Why we picked it: It sells thin-film PV modules for utility-scale projects, reflected in margin and R&D share signals.

    See in ranking ↓Visit firstsolar.com ↗

  2. Leader in PV power electronics manufacturing

    SolarEdge

    IL

    Ranked #2 · 9.1 · PV power electronics manufacturing

    Why we picked it: It focuses on solar power electronics and related products, supported by 2025 revenue reporting.

    See in ranking ↓Visit solaredge.com ↗

  3. Leader in solar microinverter systems

    Enphase Energy

    US

    Ranked #3 · 8.7 · Solar microinverter systems

    Why we picked it: It concentrates on microinverters and integrated residential energy systems.

    See in ranking ↓Visit enphase.com ↗

Pick 1 is the #1 company overall. Picks 2 and 3 are the highest-ranked companies in the top 5 that add a new segment.

Full ranking

Sort by
Top 10 companies in the solar photovoltaic industry, 2026 – Gitnux ranking
#CompanyOverall ↓Company snapshot
1

First Solar

Thin-film PV module manufacturing · US

9.5
2

SolarEdge

PV power electronics manufacturing · IL

9.1
3

Enphase Energy

Solar microinverter systems · US

8.7
4

Tongwei

Integrated PV supply chain manufacturing · CN

8.6
5

LONGi

Monocrystalline PV manufacturing · CN

8.5
6

Aiko Energy

High-efficiency solar cells and modules · CN

8.5
7

Trina Solar

PV modules, trackers and solar energy systems · CN

8.3
8

JA Solar

Integrated PV cells and solar modules · CN

8.2
9

JinkoSolar

Vertically integrated PV wafers, cells and modules · CN

8.2
10

Adani Enterprises

Integrated solar PV manufacturing in India · IN

8.2

How we score

  • Impact (30%): scale and weight in the market (revenue, market share, employees, market position).
  • Performance (20%): recent revenue growth and operating margin; an analyst assessment where a company does not publish them.
  • Momentum (20%): growth trajectory and future potential.
  • Innovation (15%): R&D intensity and how technologically advanced the company is.

Popularity (brand search demand, 15%) counts toward Overall but is not published as a column. Overall leaves out what is not known.

Scale Scores are shown on a 7–10 scale with one decimal; bars start at 7.0.

Cadence Recalculated when new figures are published; next review December 10, 2026.

Independence. Rankings are editorially independent. Scores, ranks, picks and the verdict follow the method above; no company can pay to change them.

Cite this ranking

APA

Samuel Norberg. (2026, November 10). Top 10 companies in the solar photovoltaic industry. In Solar Photovoltaic Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/solar-photovoltaic-industry-statistics/#top-companies

report visual · Projection

Annual photovoltaic capacity installed

Annual photovoltaic capacity installed grew from 146 GW in 2020 to 698 GW in 2025.

146 GW
Start
+36.74%
CAGR · 5y
698 GW
Projected
20202025
source-verifiediea-pvps.org2025

04 Statistics

Technology & Innovation

Fault-monitoring and fault-detection work uses irradiance data in 19% of input records, and automated inspection matters at scale: less than 1% of a >1-million-module plant can be inspected manually.

AI in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 19% of input records in surveyed photovoltaic fault-monitoring studies used irradiance data.[1]
  • 13% of papers in an IEA-PVPS survey of photovoltaic fault-detection research came from the Americas.[1]
  • 7% of photovoltaic fault-monitoring research models used support-vector machines, according to an IEA-PVPS literature survey.[1]
  • 7% of photovoltaic fault-monitoring research models used linear regression, according to an IEA-PVPS literature survey.[1]
  • 46% of papers in an IEA-PVPS survey of photovoltaic fault-detection research came from Asia, the largest regional share.[1]
  • 11% of papers in an IEA-PVPS survey of photovoltaic fault-detection research came from Africa.[1]

Automation in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • Less than 1% of the approximately 1-million-module scale of a utility solar plant can be inspected manually without automated monitoring and inspection technologies, according to a review describing plants with more than one million modules.[2]
  • 1,300 manufacturing jobs per gigawatt of production capacity could be created by the solar PV industry, although automation and automated guided vehicles reduce labor intensity.[3]
  • 0.14–0.33% of photovoltaic energy yield can be lost daily to soiling in desert conditions without robotic cleaning, according to a 2026 evaluation of PV cleaning robots.[4]

Digital Transformation in the utilities and renewable energy sector (sector benchmark)

  • 73% of power and utilities companies said their organizational culture impeded digital-technology adoption in a global survey conducted in late 2024.[5]
  • 100% of utilities globally had initiated digital transformation, while 20% had completed it, according to a global survey conducted in 2024.[6]
  • 84% of energy and utilities organizations were investing in digital modernization in 2026, while 20% had begun reorganizing engineering operations.[7]
  • 92% of energy companies planned digital technology investments, while 27% were retraining and reskilling existing employees, according to a 2024 survey.[5]

Technology Adoption in the utilities and renewable energy sector (sector benchmark)

  • 78% of power and utilities organizations were using advanced analytics in 2024, according to EY’s global Future of Energy Survey.[5]
  • 79% of power and utilities organizations were using cyber-threat monitoring and intelligence platforms covering IT and operational technology in 2024.[5]
  • 62% of power and utilities organizations were using robotic process automation in 2024, according to a global survey of industry executives and employees.[5]
  • 73% of power and utilities organizations were using artificial intelligence, generative AI or machine learning in 2024, based on a global industry survey.[5]

Cloud Computing in the utilities and renewable energy sector (sector benchmark)

  • 45% of energy companies used only the cloud capacity and functions they had committed to, according to an Infosys industry study published in 2024.[8]
  • 32% of power and utilities organizations using cloud computing planned improvements or new uses during the following five years in 2024.[5]
  • 41% of energy companies allowed any department head or IT manager to deploy new cloud infrastructure, software or applications in an Infosys study.[8]
  • 79% of power and utilities organizations were using cloud computing in 2024, according to a global EY survey.[5]
  • 63% of power and utilities organizations were using cloud computing while developing improvements or new applications in 2024.[5]

Big Data in the utilities and renewable energy sector (sector benchmark)

  • 20% of electric utilities had already implemented big-data analytics, while 32% were implementing it, in a survey covering 10 countries.[9]
  • 86% of utilities used advanced-metering-infrastructure data enterprise-wide or in specific workflows in 2026, according to a global utility executive survey.[10]
  • 78% of power and utilities organizations were using advanced analytics in 2024, a sector-specific proxy for big-data adoption in EY’s global survey.[5]
  • 25% of utilities reported extensive use of analytics for business intelligence and billing or revenue analysis in a survey of 190 organizations.[11]
  • 41% of utilities said advanced-metering-infrastructure data was fully embedded and scalable across daily workflows in 2026.[10]

Blockchain in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 500 prosumers were included in a proposed blockchain-enabled distributed solar-energy trading platform for an urban energy community.[12]
  • 6.4 kilowatts was the rooftop photovoltaic capacity used in a laboratory blockchain platform for peer-to-peer solar-energy exchange.[13]
  • 135 hours was the deployment duration of a blockchain-secured solar-energy logging node evaluated in a sustainability study.[12]

05 Statistics

Data & Analytics

PV operations software is moving toward integration and governance: ~70% of platforms offered APIs, while ~30% restricted API access in a 2026 snapshot.

Business intelligence in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • ~50% of PV operations software onboarding processes were semi-automated and ~8% were fully automated in the 2026 industry snapshot.[14]
  • ~45% of PV operations software documentation was user-accessible in the 2026 industry snapshot.[14]
  • ~70% of PV operations software platforms offered APIs, while ~30% had restricted API access in the 2026 industry snapshot.[14]
  • ~28% of reported PV digital-twin capabilities were geospatial in the 2026 industry snapshot.[14]
  • ~20% of reported PV digital-twin capabilities were based on field performance in the 2026 industry snapshot.[14]
  • ~75% of PV operations software platforms handled missing or erroneous data through filtering in the 2026 industry snapshot.[14]

Data analytics in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • Faulty conditions represented approximately 9.4% of time steps in the real-world PV monitoring dataset.[15]
  • PV predictive-maintenance algorithms in the 2025 review reported accuracies from 83.0% to 99.6%.[16]
  • 79% of reviewed PV predictive-maintenance studies used historical data as their main data source in the 2025 literature review.[16]
  • 14% of reviewed PV predictive-maintenance studies used synthetic data in the 2025 literature review.[16]
  • 22 published PV fault-detection approaches were summarized in the IEA review of advanced algorithms.[1]
  • 58 soiling events were identified in the real-world PV monitoring dataset used for PV anomaly detection.[15]

Data Quality in the utilities and renewable energy sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across water utilities, 7% of respondents rated asset information in EAM or CMMS as very good in 2026.[17]
  • Across water utilities, 19% of respondents rated asset characteristics information as very good in 2026.[17]
  • Across electric utilities surveyed, 77% reported no erosion in data quality over time.[18]
  • Across water utilities, 8% of respondents rated asset O&M cost information as very good in 2026.[17]
  • Across electric utilities surveyed, 69% reported user confidence in data accuracy, compared with 77% for completeness.[18]
  • Across water utilities, 10% of respondents rated asset condition and performance information as very good in 2026.[17]

Data Governance in the utilities and renewable energy sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across utilities surveyed, 56% had some form of inventory covering data sources and data-quality, integration, and analytics tools in 2020.[19]
  • Across energy and utilities organizations, 65% reported that all or nearly all of their data was governed in 2026.[20]
  • Across power and utility executives surveyed, 57% assessed data-governance maturity as developing or initial in 2021; none reported advanced practices.[5]
  • Across utilities surveyed, 50% estimated they were still three to five years away from enterprise-level data governance in 2020.[19]
  • Across utilities surveyed, 9% had fully implemented an enterprise-wide data-governance program in 2020.[19]
  • Across utilities surveyed, 6% reported fully traceable data from original source to decision-making or business processes in 2020.[19]

KPIs in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 98.0% was the median availability across 75 U.S. federal PV systems assessed by the Department of Energy.[21]
  • 99% was the minimum guaranteed PV plant availability recommended by most good-practice guidelines for O&M contracts.[14]
  • 25 years was the expected minimum operating lifetime stated for PV plants in the IEA-PVPS O&M guidelines.[14]
  • 79.0% was the median performance ratio across the 75 U.S. federal PV systems assessed by the Department of Energy.[21]
  • 30 W/m² was identified as a usually suitable minimum irradiance threshold for time-based PV plant availability calculations.[14]
  • 3% was the recommended maximum irradiance-measurement uncertainty for Class A PV monitoring systems.[14]

06 Statistics

Strategy & Growth

Buildout remains dominated by volume: solar PV additions surpassed 600 GW in 2025, and cumulative capacity reached around 2.8 TW, despite overcapacity pressures.

Growth in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 31.9 GW of photovoltaic capacity was added in India in 2024.[1]
  • 2.2 TW was the estimated cumulative global photovoltaic capacity at the end of 2024.[3]
  • 47.1 GW of photovoltaic capacity was added in the United States in 2024.[1]
  • 35% of new solar photovoltaic additions through 2030 are expected to occur outside China, compared with less than 10% during the previous six-year period.[22]
  • More than 75% of all new renewable generation capacity installed globally in 2024 came from photovoltaic systems.[1]
  • 700 GW of renewable capacity was added globally in 2024, with solar photovoltaic installations accounting for about 550 GW.[3]

Differentiation in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 4–5 USD per kilogram was the low point reached by global polysilicon prices in the second quarter of 2024.[3]
  • 190 GW of global photovoltaic wafer and module manufacturing capacity was added in 2024.[22]
  • 460 GW of global polysilicon manufacturing capacity was available in 2024.[22]
  • 25% was the increase in global photovoltaic module manufacturing capacity during 2024.[23]
  • 719.5 GW of photovoltaic modules were produced globally in 2024.[23]
  • 4.8% of global photovoltaic module production came from India in 2024.[23]

Mergers and acquisitions in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 5 balance-of-system companies were acquired in the solar sector in 2024.[24]
  • 6.54 billion USD was the value of Brookfield Asset Management’s agreement to acquire a 53.12% stake in Neoen in 2024.[24]
  • 15% was the year-on-year decline in solar corporate M&A activity in 2024.[24]
  • 82 corporate mergers and acquisitions were recorded in the solar sector in 2024, down from 96 in 2023.[24]
  • 6 companies were acquired by solar manufacturers in 2024.[24]
  • 21 solar M&A transactions were recorded in the first quarter of 2024.[24]

Strategic partnerships in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 46 MW was the capacity of the Brandenburg photovoltaic project covered by Vattenfall and Wieland’s ten-year solar PPA partnership.[25]
  • 1.5 TWh of certified renewable electricity will be supplied to Google over 15 years under TotalEnergies’ 2025 agreement for its Ohio solar farm.[26]
  • 2 GW of solar modules will be supplied by Hanwha Qcells to Summit Ridge Energy by 2027 under their expanded U.S. partnership.[27]
  • 1 GW of Sungrow photovoltaic inverter and storage products will be distributed by Menlo Electric over two years under their 2024 partnership.[25]
  • 22 MW was the capacity of Enel North America’s Fence Post solar project covered by Polaris’ virtual power purchase agreement.[28]
  • 240 MW was the capacity of the Bulgarian solar plant covered by JA Solar and Solarpro’s 2024 module-supply cooperation.[25]

07 Statistics

People & Workforce

Hiring difficulty is widespread in U.S. solar electric-power-generation manufacturing, with 88% reporting at least some hiring difficulty in 2024, while average workforce tenure is under two years.

Hiring in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 88% of U.S. solar electric-power-generation manufacturing employers reported at least some hiring difficulty in 2024.[21]
  • 16.1% was the anticipated 2024–2025 employment increase among U.S. solar electric-power-generation employers in other services.[21]
  • 87% of U.S. solar electric-power-generation wholesale-trade employers reported at least some hiring difficulty in 2024.[21]
  • 88% of U.S. solar electric-power-generation construction employers reported at least some hiring difficulty in 2024.[21]
  • 23% was the approximate year-on-year solar employment growth in Africa in 2024.[22]

Employee retention in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 20.06 months was the average tenure with the main employer among surveyed New York solar workers in 2024.[29]
  • 15.5 months was the average tenure of Black or African American surveyed New York solar workers in 2024.[29]
  • 111 surveyed New York solar workers had been with their main employer for one to three years in 2024.[29]
  • 9 months was the average tenure of American Indian or Alaska Native surveyed New York solar workers in 2024.[29]
  • 9.9 months was the average tenure of Hispanic or Latinx surveyed New York solar workers in 2024.[29]

Remote Work in the utilities and renewable energy sector (sector benchmark)

  • Among U.S. utility employers recruiting new graduates, 9.3% of positions were fully remote in 2024.[30]
  • U.S. utilities employees worked 31.42% of paid days from home in 2024.[31]
  • Across U.S. utilities, 18.2% of employees worked fully remotely in November 2024.[32]
  • U.S. utilities employees worked 22.32% of paid days from home in 2026.[31]

Hybrid Work in the utilities and renewable energy sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across U.S. utilities, 32.5% of employees worked in hybrid arrangements in November 2024.[32]
  • Across U.S. utilities, 51% of full-time employees worked either hybrid or fully from home during September–December 2024.[33]
  • U.S. utilities had 28% of full-time employees in hybrid arrangements during September–December 2024.[33]
  • Among U.S. utility employers recruiting new graduates, 43.4% of positions were fully hybrid in 2024.[30]

Upskilling in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 39% of surveyed New York solar workers held OSHA Flagger certification in 2024.[29]
  • 2% of surveyed New York solar workers reported holding no OSHA certification in 2024.[29]
  • 8% of surveyed New York solar workers held OSHA Scaffold certification in 2024.[29]
  • 21% of global solar PV workers were engaged in manufacturing polysilicon, wafers, cells, modules or inverters in 2024.[22]
  • 2/3 of global solar PV workers were engaged in developing and installing new capacity in 2024.[22]

Employee Engagement in the utilities and renewable energy sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across U.S. utilities, 70% of employees were engaged in the July 2025–June 2026 benchmark period.[34]
  • Among U.S. energy and utility organizations, 54% reported that frontline disengagement affected productivity in 2023.[35]
  • At Southern California Edison, 82% of employees gave a favorable overall engagement response in 2022.[36]
  • Among frontline energy and utilities workers, 57% said workplace communication tools were designed for desk workers rather than them in 2025.[37]

DEI in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 22% of the U.S. solar workforce was Hispanic or Latino in 2022.[38]
  • 9% of the U.S. solar workforce was Asian in 2022.[38]
  • About one-third of U.S. solar firms offered diversity-and-inclusion training in 2022.[38]

08 Statistics

Customer & Sales

Distributed and off-grid customer economics remain a measurable friction: 48% of off-grid solar appliance customers reported their payments felt burdensome, and dealer lead-to-customer conversion averaged 14%.

Customer experience in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 69% was the 2024 Consumer Protection Score for off-grid solar customers across 20 countries.[39]
  • 12,000+ customers of solar lanterns, solar home systems and solar appliances were surveyed in 2024 across 20 countries.[40]
  • 5.9 out of 10 was Evergy Solar Subscription customer satisfaction in the earlier comparison year before rising to 6.9 in 2024.[41]
  • 44% of Evergy Solar Subscription participants were highly satisfied in 2024, up from 32%.[41]
  • 48% of off-grid solar appliance customers reported that their payments felt burdensome.[39]

Customer retention in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • More than 1,048,000 customers were in Sunrun’s customer base at the end of 2024.[42]
  • 30% of community-solar subscribers were estimated by NREL to incur 80% of subscriber-management costs.[43]
  • 51% of Evergy Solar Subscription participants planned to remain enrolled long term in 2024.[41]
  • 7.5 GW was Sunrun’s networked solar-energy capacity serving customers at the end of 2024.[42]
  • 25 years was the assumed community-solar customer lifetime used by NREL to calculate subscriber-management costs.[43]

Customer acquisition in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 8 leads were needed on average to produce one customer in the solar-dealer study.[44]
  • $1,810–$9,605 was the range of customer-acquisition cost per customer among the studied solar dealers.[44]
  • 14% was the average lead-to-customer conversion rate when the qualified-lead dealer was included.[44]
  • 17% of revenue was the average customer-acquisition spending of 13 U.S. residential solar dealers.[44]
  • $5,373 was the average customer-acquisition cost per customer among the solar dealers studied.[44]

Customer loyalty in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • More than 80% of California solar participants agreed that the Inflation Reduction Act increased their inclination to buy additional electric appliances.[45]
  • 5.6% of surveyed solar owners would use the same vendor again but with different contract terms.[46]
  • Nearly 50% of California solar participants reported willingness to refer someone to solar for a financial incentive.[45]
  • 22.2% of surveyed solar owners said they would not purchase solar power again.[46]
  • 16.7% of surveyed solar owners said they would install solar using a different vendor if repeating the purchase.[46]

Lead generation in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • $210 was the approximate average cost per lead reported by 13 U.S. residential solar dealers.[44]
  • 12.4% was the average solar lead-conversion rate excluding the dealer that counted only qualified leads.[44]
  • 57% of solar contractors reported using purchased leads in one of the survey’s contractor segments in 2024.[47]
  • $213 was the average cost per lead shown in the detailed solar-dealer acquisition analysis.[44]
  • 14% of solar leads converted into customers when the full dealer sample was used.[44]

09 Statistics

Marketing & Brand

Brand and acquisition practices vary, with 44% of U.S. installers using online marketplace platforms frequently and 26% using purchased leads frequently in 2023.

Marketing in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • $2,400 was the approximate customer-acquisition cost from referrals in a study of U.S. residential solar dealers.[44]
  • 14% of U.S. solar installers used events frequently in 2023.[47]
  • 12% of U.S. solar installers used door-to-door selling frequently in 2023.[47]
  • 44% of U.S. solar installers used online marketplace platforms frequently in 2023.[47]
  • 26% of U.S. solar installers used purchased leads frequently in 2023.[47]

Digital marketing in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • $76.2 million was Sunrun’s amortization of customer-agreement acquisition costs in 2024.[48]
  • 268% was the increase in SunPower’s residential-solar-installation sales-and-marketing expense from fiscal 2024 to fiscal 2025.[49]
  • $6.827 million was SunPower’s residential-solar-installation sales-and-marketing expense in fiscal 2024.[49]
  • $617.162 million was Sunrun’s sales-and-marketing expense in 2024.[48]
  • $709.253 million was Sunrun’s sales-and-marketing expense in the United States in 2025.[48]

Branding in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 18% of U.S. solar customers requested a specific solar-panel brand in 2022.[50]
  • 83% of surveyed U.S. solar installers installed at least two panel brands in 2022.[50]
  • 20% of surveyed U.S. solar installers carried Jinko Solar panels in 2022.[50]
  • 30% of surveyed U.S. solar installers carried Canadian Solar panels in 2022.[50]
  • 66% of surveyed U.S. solar installers carried Qcells panels in 2022.[50]

Social media in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 33 complaints mentioning door, sales and solar were submitted to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in 2021.[51]
  • 1,080 Instagram impressions were recorded by Illinois Solar for All during the 2023–2024 program year.[52]
  • 6,662 LinkedIn impressions were recorded by Illinois Solar for All during the 2023–2024 program year.[52]
  • 55.6% of surveyed professionals said their company used at least one social-media platform to share marketing messages in 2023, according to solar-industry social-media research cited by DataReportal.[53]
  • 1,598 Facebook impressions were recorded by Illinois Solar for All during the 2023–2024 program year.[52]

Influencer Marketing in the utilities and renewable energy sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across B2B companies, authenticity and credibility were the top influencer-selection criteria for 58% of marketers in 2025.[54]
  • Across B2B companies, influencer marketing was associated with a 39-percentage-point advantage in brand-awareness goal attainment in 2025.[54]
  • Across B2B companies, 55% were using influencers in 2025, while another 29% planned to adopt influencer marketing within the following year.[54]
  • Across B2B companies, 28% of marketers ranked thought leaders or industry analysts as the most effective influencer type in 2025.[54]
  • Across B2B companies, 76% of marketing leaders believed creator collaborations build brand authenticity in 2025.[54]

10 Statistics

Operations & Execution

Reliability testing shows measurable failure rates: 32% of PV manufacturers experienced at least one thermal-cycling failure in 2025 testing, up from 20% in 2024.

Process optimization in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 32% of PV manufacturers experienced at least one thermal-cycling failure in 2025 testing, up from 20% in the 2024 Scorecard.[55]
  • 23% of BOMs undergoing hail-stress testing experienced module breakage, 2026 global PV module testing.[55]
  • 1.1% was the median degradation rate for TOPCon modules after 600 thermal cycles, compared with 3.6% for PERC, 2025 Scorecard testing.[55]
  • 50% of visual-inspection failures were caused by module breakage and 46% by delamination, 2026 global PV module testing.[55]
  • 90% of glass-to-glass BOMs tested had less than 2% degradation after 600 thermal cycles, compared with 0% of glass-to-backsheet BOMs, 2025.[55]

Operational efficiency in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 1.9% per year was the P90 performance-loss rate across the U.S. PV-fleet dataset, 2024.[56]
  • 0.5% to 0.75% per year was the median annual degradation range found across U.S. PV systems, depending on analytical method, 2024.[57]
  • 99.4% was the median availability for U.S. PV systems sized 0.02–1 MW, 2024.[58]
  • 95% was the tenth-percentile system availability in the steady-state U.S. PV fleet, excluding the first six months of operation, 2024.[57]
  • 98.4% was the median availability for U.S. PV systems sized 1–30 MW, 2024.[58]

Quality management in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 6% of potential-induced-degradation BOMs experienced a power-loss failure, 2025 global PV module testing.[55]
  • 4% of PV manufacturers experienced melted or damaged connectors during qualification testing, 2025 global PV module testing.[55]
  • 87% of PV manufacturers experienced at least one Product Qualification Program failure, 2026 global Scorecard testing.[55]
  • 7% of PV module BOMs experienced a wet-leakage electrical-insulation failure, 2025 global PV module testing.[55]
  • 26% of PV manufacturers experienced at least one power-loss failure during qualification testing, 2026 global PV module testing.[55]

Supply chain in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 8% of global cell-production capacity was represented by the largest single manufacturing facility, 2021.[3]
  • More than 75% of global wafer manufacturing was concentrated among the five largest enterprises, 2021.[3]
  • 4% was the estimated decline in annual polysilicon production caused by four plant closures in 2020, contributing to near-tripling prices between 2020 and 2021.[3]
  • 72% of global polysilicon manufacturing capacity was located in China, 2021.[21]
  • 30% of global module-manufacturing capacity in China was located in Jiangsu province, 2021.[3]

Outsourcing / Offshoring in the utilities and renewable energy sector (sector benchmark)

  • Approximately 45% of electric transmission, distribution and gas distribution work was outsourced in 2024, projected to exceed 50% over the following five years.[59]
  • 68.4% of U.S. utilities surveyed outsourced bill printing in 2026, based on responses from 95 utilities across 18 states.[60]
  • 54% of U.S. solar companies surveyed outsourced most solar maintenance in 2025, compared with 60% in Germany and 48% in the United Kingdom.[61]
  • 88% of power and utilities executives surveyed planned to rely more on vendors and contractors than previously, in a 2025 global energy survey.[5]
  • 55% of surveyed solar OEMs, technicians and installers across the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Spain outsourced most solar maintenance in 2025.[61]

11 Statistics

Finance & Pricing

U.S. pricing remained low but volatile: module prices were around $0.27/Wdc in Q3 2025, while average U.S. commercial system prices reached $1.72/Wdc in Q4 2025.

Pricing strategy in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • Less than CAD 1.31/W was the general 2024 turnkey price for Canadian PV systems larger than 20 MW.[1]
  • USD 0.60/W was the approximate starting price for large distributed PV systems globally in 2024.[1]
  • USD 1–6/W was the typical low-end price range for off-grid PV systems globally in 2024.[1]
  • 11% was Europe’s reduction in utility-scale solar-PV auction prices in 2024.[22]
  • 23% was the decline in India’s utility-scale solar-PV auction price in 2024.[22]

Cost reduction in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • USD 44/MWh was the global weighted-average solar-PV LCOE in 2024.[23]
  • 50% was the approximate fall in essential PV-component prices during the year to 2024.[3]
  • 97% was the decline in crystalline-silicon module prices between 2010 and late 2024.[23]
  • 87% was the decline in global weighted-average solar-PV total installed cost between 2010 and 2024.[23]
  • USD 0.28/W was the crystalline-silicon module price by late 2024.[23]

Profitability in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • USD 0.106/W was Canadian Solar’s China manufacturing cost for modules in 2024.[62]
  • USD 5,993.4 million was Canadian Solar’s net revenue in 2024.[62]
  • USD 999.3 million was Canadian Solar’s gross profit in 2024.[62]
  • USD 7.9 million was JinkoSolar’s net income in 2024.[63]
  • 32.0% was Canadian Solar’s gross margin in the third quarter of 2024.[64]

Financial planning in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • USD 320 billion was the projected 2024 clean-energy investment in emerging-market and developing economies outside China.[3]
  • USD 1.51/Wac was the median U.S. utility-owned PV system price in 2024.[43]
  • 30% was the decline in solar-panel costs over the two years to 2024, partly offsetting higher financing costs.[3]
  • More than USD 500 billion was projected for global solar-PV power-sector investment in 2024.[3]
  • USD 20.73/kW-year was IRENA’s assumed 2024 solar-PV O&M cost for OECD countries in LCOE calculations.[23]

12 Statistics

Product & Service

Module performance targets coexist with durability testing signals: 26.7% efficiency was reported for silicon modules in 2024, while utility-scale O&M assumptions in LCOE used $20.73/kW-year for OECD countries in 2024.

Product development in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 18.9% was the lowest reported module efficiency in the Fraunhofer ISE 2025 survey, up from 17.4% one year earlier.[65]
  • 96% of global solar shipments used monocrystalline silicon in 2022.[21]
  • 167,000 modules were modeled on single-axis trackers in the representative 2025 U.S. utility-scale PV system.[21]
  • 26.7% was the efficiency rate for silicon modules in 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.[21]
  • 21.9% was the modeled efficiency of representative U.S. utility-scale bifacial modules in the 2025 system-cost benchmark.[21]

Product lifecycle in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 70% of global solar energy systems had been installed since 2019, according to the IEA’s 2025 snapshot.[21]
  • 17,416 tonnes of photovoltaic-system waste were processed by PV CYCLE in 2024.[66]
  • 30 years was the assumed lifespan for PV systems installed after 2014 in a 2025 global photovoltaic-materials study.[67]
  • 25–35 years was the estimated operational lifespan of solar panels in 2025, based on a Berkeley Lab survey of U.S. solar professionals.[21]
  • 8,468 tonnes of batteries and other WEEE were processed by PV CYCLE in Italy in 2024.[66]

After-sales in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 63% of U.S. solar installers surveyed in 2024 proactively checked customers’ installations at least quarterly.[68]
  • 15% of reported residential solar repair cases left the customer responsible for repair costs in the 2024 U.S. installer survey.[68]
  • 7% of U.S. solar installers surveyed in 2024 said they received calls only from customers whose original installers had gone out of business.[68]
  • 96% of solar installers surveyed in the United States had at least partial access to system monitoring in 2024.[68]

Value proposition in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • $31 per megawatt-hour was the post-federal-incentive LCOE of new U.S. utility-scale solar projects in 2023.[69]
  • 12.8 cents per kilowatt-hour was the modeled 2023 U.S. residential PV-only LCOE.[43]
  • 90% was the decline in global weighted-average utility-scale solar-PV LCOE between 2010 and 2024.[23]
  • $691 per kilowatt was the global weighted-average installed cost of utility-scale solar PV projects commissioned in 2024.[23]
  • $11 billion was the estimated fuel savings delivered by solar in the United States in 2025.[70]

13 Statistics

Sustainability & Ethics

Lifecycle emissions still concentrate in manufacturing, with 71.3% of PV lifecycle greenhouse-gas emissions coming from manufacturing. Workforce and waste figures also scale with deployment, including 3.9 million tonnes of cumulative PV waste by 2030.

Sustainability in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 46% of renewable electricity generation came from solar in 2024, according to the University of Michigan Center for Sustainable Systems.[71]
  • China, India and the United States installed 328 GW, 48 GW and 43 GW of solar PV respectively in 2025.[71]
  • Solar PV capacity additions reached 540 GW in 2024, a 30% year-on-year increase.[22]
  • 280,119 people worked in the U.S. solar industry in 2024.[71]
  • 76% of all new renewable capacity globally came from photovoltaic additions in 2025.[71]

ESG in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 30% of the U.S. solar electric-power-generation workforce was female in 2023.[72]
  • Solar utility employment in the United States reached 15,314 workers in 2023.[72]
  • 14% of the U.S. solar electric-power-generation workforce was union-represented or covered by a labor agreement in 2023.[72]
  • 740 GW was Sungrow’s cumulative installed power-electronics converter capacity in 2024.[73]
  • 23% of the U.S. solar electric-power-generation workforce identified as Hispanic or Latino in 2023.[72]

Ethics in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 97% of solar panels installed in the United Kingdom were reported to contain polysilicon sourced from China in 2024.[74]
  • 51% was the increase in U.S. solar utility employment from 2022 to 2023.[72]
  • 10% was the approximate share of the global solar PV workforce accounted for by India in 2024.[22]
  • 30% of U.S. solar electric-power-generation workers were women in 2023.[72]
  • 23% of U.S. solar electric-power-generation workers were Hispanic or Latino in 2023.[72]

CSR in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 5,318 U.S. solar jobs were added in construction in 2023.[72]
  • 14% of U.S. solar electric-power-generation workers were covered by a union or labor agreement in 2023.[72]
  • 2,873 U.S. solar jobs were added in professional and business services in 2023.[72]
  • 18,401 solar jobs were added in the United States in 2023.[72]
  • 5 million people worked in global solar PV in 2024.[22]

Circular economy in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 3.9 million tonnes of cumulative solar PV waste could arise globally by 2030 under a 1.5°C-compatible pathway.[22]
  • 85% recovery rates could enable recycled PV modules to meet almost 70% of future silver demand.[22]
  • 85% recovery rates could enable PV recycling to supply more than 20% of future aluminum demand.[22]
  • 17.7 million tonnes of material could be recycled from solar PV waste by 2050.[22]
  • 1.2 million tonnes of material could be recycled from solar PV waste by 2030.[22]

Carbon footprint in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 540 GW of solar PV capacity additions in 2024 expanded the industry’s low-carbon generation base.[22]
  • 71.3% of PV lifecycle greenhouse-gas emissions came from manufacturing.[71]
  • 0.15% of global energy-related CO2 emissions came from solar PV manufacturing in 2021.[3]
  • 42% was the potential reduction in lifecycle greenhouse-gas emissions from improved PV end-of-life design and recycling.[71]
  • 77.5% was the decline in average utility-scale solar PV levelized cost since 2010.[71]

15 Statistics

Globalization & Expansion

China’s industrial share remains dominant, with 99% of global wafer capacity and 93% of polysilicon capacity accounted for by Chinese-headquartered companies in the IEA 2024 assessment.

Globalization in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 2.2 TW of solar PV capacity was installed globally by the end of 2024.[3]
  • China accounted for approximately 95% of global wafer manufacturing capacity in 2023.[3]
  • China represented about 80% of global inverter manufacturing capacity in 2025.[3]
  • Nearly 50 GW of new solar PV capacity was added in the United States in 2024.[3]
  • 600 GW of solar PV capacity was added worldwide in 2025, the first year global annual additions exceeded 600 GW.[3]

Cultural adaptation in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 318,600 solar jobs were estimated in India in 2023.[23]
  • 45.9% was the estimated share of women in the overall global economy, above solar PV’s 40% share.[23]
  • 4.6 million solar PV jobs were located in China in 2023, approximately 65% of the global total.[23]
  • 757,500 solar PV jobs were estimated in Europe in 2023.[23]
  • 10.7% of global solar PV jobs were located in Europe in 2023.[23]

Supplier management in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 82 GW of solar module manufacturing capacity was operating in Southeast Asia in 2025, down from 106 GW in 2023.[3]
  • More than USD 50 billion was invested by China in new solar PV supply capacity between 2011 and 2021.[3]
  • Approximately USD 25 billion was represented by cancelled polysilicon and wafer projects in 2024.[3]
  • About 300 GW of planned polysilicon manufacturing capacity was cancelled amid the 2024 supply glut.[3]
  • Around 90 GW of inverter shipments, equivalent to demand, were recorded across Europe in 2025.[3]

Stakeholder management in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • Nearly 60% of U.S. utility-scale solar projects contracted in the fourth quarter of 2024 had large technology-company buyers.[70]
  • 225 GW of rooftop solar PV capacity was estimated across the European Union at the end of 2024.[84]
  • 1,059.49 MWh of electricity was shared by Czech collective-self-consumption groups in 2024.[84]
  • 66% of new U.S. electricity-generating capacity added in 2024 came from solar.[70]
  • 304 collective-self-consumption schemes operated in France in 2024.[84]

Distribution channels in the solar photovoltaic industry

  • 4,742 MWdc of U.S. residential solar capacity was installed in 2024.[70]
  • Almost 40% of projected global PV expansion was expected to come from distributed residential, commercial, industrial and off-grid applications through 2030.[3]
  • 20% was the European Union residential-rooftop share of solar PV installations in 2024, down from 28% in 2023.[85]
  • 2,118 MWdc of U.S. commercial solar capacity was installed in 2024.[70]
  • 1,745 MWdc of U.S. community solar capacity was installed in 2024.[70]

Key questions about the solar photovoltaic industry

What is the current global solar photovoltaic market size by capacity?
Solar photovoltaics added an estimated 698 GW in 2025, taking cumulative global capacity toward 2.8 TW. At least 608 GW was installed during 2025, with IEA PVPS estimating a full-year market up to 698 GW.
How fast is solar PV growing globally?
Solar PV additions surpassed 600 GW in 2025, with cumulative capacity reaching around 2.8 TW. The IEA expects renewable power capacity to increase by 4,600 GW between 2025 and 2030, with solar PV accounting for almost 80% of the increase.
Which companies lead the solar photovoltaic industry?
First Solar leads Gitnux's 2026 solar photovoltaic ranking with an Overall score of 9.5, with revenue growth 24.1% and operating margin 30.6% signals from PV manufacturing. SolarEdge is the highest-ranked inverter and optimizer manufacturer at 9.1, with USD1.184 billion revenue from solar power electronics and related products in 2025.
What technology shifts are showing up most in production and installations?
N-type technologies represented about 70% of global production, and bifacial modules accounted for more than 75%. Solar PV fault-monitoring literature also shows irradiance data in 19% of input records in surveyed studies.
How concentrated is manufacturing, and where does capacity sit?
Manufacturing remains highly concentrated in China: Chinese-headquartered companies accounted for 93% of global polysilicon capacity and 99% of wafer capacity in the IEA’s 2024 assessment. The top 10 companies held 55% of polysilicon, 60% of wafer, 47% of cell, and 46% of module manufacturing capacity.
What are key execution constraints operators report in market buildouts?
Curtailment is becoming more common in high-penetration markets, increasing the need for storage, grid flexibility, and improved transmission. Grid integration, supply-chain vulnerabilities, and financing constraints are increasing challenges, while competitive auctions are expected to account for almost 60% of gross utility-scale renewable additions during 2025-2030.
Reference

Cite This Report

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APA
Samuel Norberg. (2026, November 10). Solar Photovoltaic Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/solar-photovoltaic-industry-statistics
MLA
Samuel Norberg. "Solar Photovoltaic Industry Statistics." Gitnux, 10 Nov 2026, https://gitnux.org/solar-photovoltaic-industry-statistics.
Chicago
Samuel Norberg. 2026. "Solar Photovoltaic Industry Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/solar-photovoltaic-industry-statistics.

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