Solar photovoltaics deployment

Contact For enquiries concerning this table email fitstatistics@energysecurity.gov.uk ### Cover_sheet | Solar Photovoltaics deployment in the UK - March 2026 | | --- | | This spreadsheet is a Accredited Official Statistics publication, by the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ). The data presented are on capacity and the number of solar photovoltaic schemes installed in the UK. | | Publication dates | | This data was published on Thursday 30th April 2026. These tables will be updated on Thursday 28th May 2026. | | Data period | | This spreadsheet contains monthly data including new data for March 2026 in Tables 1, 2, and 3. In addition, the three most recent versions of Table 1 and the most recent version of Tables 2 and 3 are included in sheets towards the end of this file. | | Revisions and changes | | In February 2026, we revised the number of sites in Northern Ireland. A group of sites operated by the same organisation had previously been considered one site but are now reported as four individual sites in our Major Power Producer (MPP) survey. Similarly, two sites, also in Northern Ireland, had been included separately at 13.5 MW and 7 MW, but actually make up one 20.5 MW site. This has led to small changes in this publication to the number of installations in tables 1 and 2 for Northern Ireland, however capacity is not affected. For the December 2025 publication, in response to user needs we added an additional version of Table 1 with a different breakdown of the capacity ranges. The new capacity ranges align better with eligibility criteria for Government schemes such as Contracts for Difference. For each range, the top boundary is moved into the next category. E.g. Currently the 50 kW to ≤ 5 MW includes 5 MW sites. Under the new ranges the 5 MW sites are instead included in the 5 ≤ to < 25 MW band. | | We are currently undertaking a review of our data sources. As part of this review, a small change was made in the October 2025 publication to the methodology to use Total Installed Capacity (TIC) for installations on the microgeneration scheme (MCS). In previous years, this data had not always been available therefore Declared Net Capacity (DNC) had been used. However, improvements to the MCS database have allowed us to make this change to bring it in line with our other data sources where we use the TIC where possible. Also in October 2025, a correction was made to remove 40,000 installations that had been wrongly recorded as solar PV in our underlying data. The net effect of these two changes was to add around 300 MW to capacity but to reduce from the number of installations by around 40,000 in October's publication. Since November 2025 we have been working with external partners to identify operational sites that have potentially not been notified to us through our regular channels. This work involves an array of checks to ensure that the potential additional sites are not in our existing data, under a different name, location or capacity. We have identified approximately 1.2 GW of additional capacity which was included in December's publication of these statistics. These statistics are subject to further revision as data sources are developed. | | In Table 2, revisions may occur where a site is commissioned but not yet accredited on the Renewables Obligation (RO), the Central Feed-in-Tariff Register (CFR) or LCCC's Contracts for Difference (CfD) register until several months later. Such revisions are less common now that RO and FiTs have closed to new entrants. As ever, please reach out to the contact details should you require further information on these changes. | | Domestic installations | | Table 1 includes the total number of domestic installations and their combined capacity. These are any installations that are recorded as being on domestic properties by the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) or Ofgem in the Central FiTs Register (CFR). In addition, Table 3 breaks down the domestic total by parliamentary constituency. | | Further information | | The data tables and accompanying cover sheet, contents, and commentary have recently been edited to meet legal accessibility regulations To provide feedback please contact | | energy.stats@energysecurity.gov.uk | | Some cells in the tables refer to notes which can be found in the notes worksheet Note markers are presented in square brackets, for example [Note 1] | | Details on data sources and methodology used to compile this release can be found in the 'Notes' sheet. | | Links to additional further information in cells below | | Energy statistics revisions policy (opens in a new window) | | Glossary and acronyms, DUKES Annex B (opens in a new window) | | Contact details | | Statistical enquiries | | William Spry | | fitstatistics@energysecurity.gov.uk | | 07825 194608 | | Media enquiries | | newsdesk@energysecurity.gov.uk | | 020 7215 1000 | ### Contents | Contents | | | --- | --- | | This worksheet contains one table | | | This table includes a list of worksheets in this workbook with links to those worksheets | | | Contents | Description | | Cover Sheet | Front page with general details, sources and contacts | | Contents | This page | | Commentary | Brief notes on trends and main points from this release | | Notes | Notes to the data tables and details on data sources and methodologies | | Table 1 - by Capacity | Solar photovoltaics deployment by capacity band | | Table 2 - by Accreditation | Solar photovoltaics deployment by scheme/mount type and UK nations | | Table 3 - domestic installations by parliamentary constituency | Domestic solar photovoltaic deployment by parliamentary constituency | | Table 1 - Feb 26 | Table 1 as published in March 2026 | | Table 1 - Jan 26 | Table 1 as published in February 2026 | | Table 1 - Dec 25 | Table 1 as published in January 2026 | | Table 2 - Feb 26 | Table 2 as published in March 2026 | | Table 3 - Feb 26 | Table 3 as published in March 2026 | ### Commentary | Commentary | | --- | | 2026-03-01 00:00:00 | | This publication includes solar installations reported in our own survey of Major Power Producers (MPP), the Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD), the Microgeneration Certification Scheme database (MCS) and those subsidised by the Renewables Obligation, Feed-in Tariff, and Contracts for Difference. In addition, several plants from Distribution Network Operators (DNO) embedded capacity registers and from Ofgem's REGO (Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin) dataset are included. However, the statistics do not currently include all unsubsidised solar installations below 150 kW capacity that are not recorded in these data sources. We are reviewing data sources to improve coverage and intend to make use of data from other sources when available. In this publication, the main version of Table 1 uses the new breakdown of the capacity ranges. See the Cover Sheet for more details. | | Main trends in the latest month | | There are now more than two million solar installations in the UK. Provisionally, as of the end of March 2026 there is a total of 22.1 GW of solar capacity in the UK across 2,003,000 installations. This is an increase of 11.7% (2.3 GW) since March 2025. The capacity added over the last 12 months includes Cleve Hill solar farm in July, at 373 MW, this is the largest operational solar farm in the UK. | | During March 2026, there were 27,607 installations, accounting for 121 MW of capacity. This is the most installations in any calendar month since 2012. These numbers are subject to revision in future months. | | After a sharp drop in April 2020 due to Covid-19 lockdown measures, the number of installations recovered by the second half of 2020 and gradually exceeded pre-pandemic levels. Between the closure of RO to new entrants in 2016 and 2021, the median number of new monthly installations was around 3,000 per month. The median over the past 12 months is over 23,000 installations per month. | | The bulk of Solar PV installations in the UK are domestic but they only account for 30% of the total capacity. Domestic's share of capacity dropped rapidly after the first years of FiT and remained around 25% since 2016. It has crept back up over the last three years, driven by a surge in solar PV installations. In March 2026, 66% of the new schemes were installed on a residential building, adding a total of 85 MW. | | Over the course of 2025, a total of 269,000 installations came online, the most new installations in any calendar year. The 2.7 GW of new capacity added in 2025 was the highest annual figure since 2015 when 4.3 GW was added. | | At the end of March 2026, at least 38% of capacity (8.4 GW) came from ground-mounted or standalone solar installations. This includes 25 operational solar farms accredited on Contracts for Difference, 19 of which came online during 2025, and four in 2026. This number is expected to increase. In addition, around half of the "unaccredited" capacity is believed to be ground mount so that in total, ground-mount accounts for roughly 58% of total capacity. | | Methodology notes | | The figure for deployment within the latest month should always be taken as provisional - it is likely to be revised as further data are received on newly operational sites. See the revisions note on the cover sheet for further details. | | The time series contains significant step changes for capacity in March for the years 2013 to 2017. This is due to various RO capacity deadlines as well as changes to FITs rates in those months. |