2025: A year for ensuring a resilient, secure, and competitive Europe

The buzzwords for 2025 are: competitiveness, energy security, and climate. Solar champions all of these strategic objectives.

SolarPower Europe’s Let’s Flex campaign continues, sharing key insights into how solar + electrification + flexibility can drive the energy transition and save the EU €32 billion on net energy system costs annually by 2030, and up to €160 billion annually by 2040.

We will be diving into all things flexibility at this year’s SolarPower Summit. Make sure to secure your seat for the must attend solar policy event, setting the agenda for the year to come and beyond.

Just this week, the European Commission published the EU Competitiveness Compass. The Compass lays out the Commission’s strategy, reflecting the findings of the Draghi report on Competitiveness, and guiding the EU executive’s work for the coming five years. It comes ahead of the anticipated Clean Industrial Deal, expected in February 2025.  

The Competitiveness Compass points to the right problem: our structural fossil fuel dependency. It also points to the right solutions: more renewables, faster electrification, and stronger system flexibility. Read our full statement here.

Members of SolarPower Europe will receive an overview and analysis of the Competitiveness Compass and what is means for solar in our popular Weekly Policy Updates. If you are not a member and would like to get our policy analysis, please contact our team. 

The beginning of 2025 has been loaded with energising meetings. During the first Strasbourg plenary of the year, the SolarPower Europe team met with a wide range of MEPs to discuss how solar energy is delivering for Europe and what we need to step up further. I was encouraged to hear European policymakers emphasise the need to act decisively and swiftly in the European energy transition, and their commitment to prioritising energy system integration through flexibility and electrification. I stressed that we must support Europe’s solar manufacturing base, which is critical for ensuring a resilient and secure Europe.

Our first event of the year is on the horizon, with the team heading to Barcelona for the 2025 edition of the Solar Quality Summit. During the event, we will launch the 6th  edition of our Operation & Maintenance Best Practice Guidelines. There’s still time to register for the event and check out the programme here. 

In December, SolarPower Europe published its flagship EU Market Outlook for Solar Power. Following several years of over 40% year-on-year growth, our data showed  that 2024 brought only 4% annual growth to the EU solar market. This represents a 92% growth slowdown. The EU installed 66 GW of solar in 2024, inching past 2023’s record of 63 GW. SolarPower Europe has issued a yellow card to European policymakers and system operators. 

Slowing solar deployment means slowing the continent’s goals on energy security, competitiveness and climate. Europe needs to be installing around 70 GW annually to hit its 2030 targets. Our mission is to continue delivering the best possible EU policy and business framework for solar PV in Europe. Have a look at what we have delivered for the solar sector in 2024 here.

Now we look to the future more determined than ever to make Europe “shine, baby, shine”, for our competitiveness, security, and climate. 

With a new year, and new political agenda, we are committed to bringing new energy to deliver an even more competitive and secure Europe powered by solar. I’m looking forward to working with our members and industry colleagues to create a bright 2025.