- Accounting for nearly 23% of the total, solar power is now the most significant technology in Spain’s electricity mix, which is helping to significantly keep electricity prices in check during daylight hours, despite the surge in fossil fuel prices.
- However, these increasingly low prices discourage future investment and call for measures to boost demand, the electrification of the economy, and the deployment of energy storage.
- In 2025, 10,105 MW of new photovoltaic capacity was installed in Spain, of which 8,966 MW came from utility-scale plants and 1,139 MW from self-consumption systems.
- Self-consumption is stabilizing and establishing itself as a driver of economic development for Spanish industry, which is the sector that invests the most in these solutions.
- Utility-scale installations grew by 31% compared to the previous year, and Spain ranked as the second-largest photovoltaic market in the European Union.
- The photovoltaic sector continues to play a significant role in the Spanish economy: it contributed 9,841 million euros to GDP in 2025 and generated 134,708 direct, indirect, and induced jobs.
- The photovoltaic industry exported goods worth 3,208 million euros and allocated 473 million to R&D&I, with an innovation intensity of 3.6%, more than double the average for Spanish industry.
- Behind-the-meter storage grew by 65%, reaching 540 MWh of installed capacity in 2025, and has now reached a cumulative total of 2,745 MWh since 2022.
Madrid, September 15, 2026. Under the title “Challenges of the Second Phase of the Energy Transition (2025–2030),” the Spanish Photovoltaic Union (UNEF) today presented its Annual Report, which, in collaboration with the University of Castilla-La Mancha, analyzes the evolution of the Spanish photovoltaic industry in 2025 and the main challenges that will shape the sector’s development during the second half of the decade.
In the international context, Spain was Europe’s second-largest photovoltaic market in 2025, with 67.2 GWp installed. Globally, photovoltaics was once again the energy source with the highest new installed capacity, at 698 GWp, and cumulative global capacity exceeded 3 TWp.
In Spain, the data show the sector’s stabilization and its significant economic and industrial impact. The year 2025 closed with 8,985 MW of new ground-mounted photovoltaic capacity in the country, bringing the current total to 46,286 MW, plus 1,139 MW of self-consumption, with a cumulative total currently standing at 9,276 MW.
A sector with a strong economic and industrial impact
In 2025, the photovoltaic sector contributed 9,841 million euros to the national GDP (approximately 0.5% of Spain’s GDP) and its total economic impact reached 14,121 million. Employment in the sector stood at 134,708 people, exports totaled 3,208 million euros, and companies in the sector allocated 473 million to R&D&I, with an innovation intensity of 3.6%, more than double the average for Spanish industry (1.6%).
Photovoltaics, accounting for nearly 23%, is now the most significant technology in Spain’s electricity mix. This is helping to significantly curb electricity prices during daylight hours amid rising fossil fuel prices, thereby helping to control inflation and providing savings for citizens and competitiveness for companies operating here.
These low prices, however, have also reduced the prices received by photovoltaic installations, which fell from 42.28 €/MWh in 2024 to 36.39 €/MWh in 2025 and to 29.68 €/MWh in the first half of 2026. Adding to this pressure is the increase in the number of solar hours with zero or negative prices: in 2025, there were 797 hours with a price equal to or less than 0 €/MWh and significant photovoltaic generation. In 2026, that figure had already been matched by July 7 and was approaching 900 hours by early September.
Electrification, storage, and an electricity market adapted to the new reality of renewables: the keys to turning our solar resource advantage into an economic and industrial advantage
The report shows that the electrification of end uses is the main challenge of this new phase. Spain already has 71.5 GW of demand connection points that have been approved or are included in the 2030 plan, in addition to 24 GW of capacity that has been requested but is still pending approval. Data centers, industry, hydrogen, storage, and electric mobility account for a large portion of this new demand.
Enabling these sectors to benefit from competitive renewable electricity is an opportunity to strengthen industrialization, attract investment, and improve the competitiveness of the Spanish economy.
The deployment of storage is also key to this. In 2025, significant progress was made, especially behind the meter (540 MWh were installed, 65% more than the previous year, bringing the total to 2,745 MWh since 2022). For ground-mounted systems, we currently have 261 MW of installed ground-mounted storage, 241 MW of hybrid systems, and 20 MW of stand-alone systems, with 33,031 MW for which permits have been granted and 14,607 MW pending approval. For this storage potential to be realized, UNEF highlights the importance of measures such as the development of flexible access and connection permits and the streamlining of regulatory processes.
Likewise, UNEF emphasizes that it is essential to adapt the market pricing system in the medium term to the characteristics of a renewable energy system, establishing floors and caps that prevent the proliferation of hours with zero or negative rates. In the short term, UNEF is calling for measures such as compensation for technical restrictions, ICO loans to finance projects, the promotion of hybridizing existing systems, and adequate compensation for voltage control services.
According to Rafael Benjumea, president of UNEF: “Photovoltaics have proven that they can be deployed on a large scale, create jobs, attract investment, improve the competitiveness of our economy, and provide us with security of supply at a competitive price. Now a second, more complex phase begins, in which we must move forward to capitalize on this advantage by electrifying our economy, deploying large-scale storage and self-consumption, adapting the electricity market to the new reality, and strengthening the social integration of these projects. If we do so, photovoltaics will be not only a tool for decarbonization but also one of the major drivers of competitiveness, industrialization, and economic growth in our country.”