Curated from pv magazine, SolarPower Europe, Renewables Now, Ember, and the European Commission. Filter by country or topic below.
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The revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) mandates solar installations on all new non-residential buildings from 2026 and new residential buildings from 2029. The measure is expected to add 50 GW of rooftop capacity across the EU by 2030, directly supporting the REPowerEU target of 600 GW by 2030.
The Dutch government has confirmed the salderingsregeling (full net metering at retail price) will end on 1 January 2027. After that date, surplus solar electricity will be compensated at the lower 'terugleververgoeding' rate, typically €0.04–0.08/kWh versus the retail price of €0.32/kWh. Homeowners without battery storage will see their solar ROI drop significantly. Battery installations in the Netherlands surged 68% in 2025 in anticipation.
SolarPower Europe's Q1 2026 market report shows the EU has crossed 320 GW of installed solar capacity. Record installation years in Spain, Germany, and Poland are driving progress, but the industry warns permitting bottlenecks remain the biggest barrier to hitting the 600 GW REPowerEU target on time.
Germany's updated Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) raised the permitted output for plug-in balcony solar systems (Balkonkraftwerk) from 600W to 800W in early 2024, and the 2026 amendment now allows up to 2 kW for terraces. Registration via the Marktstammdatenregister remains required. An estimated 500,000 balcony systems are now installed across Germany.
Belgium has reached 11 GW of installed solar capacity, making it the highest solar capacity per capita in continental Europe at approximately 940W per person. The Flemish region accounts for 68% of total capacity. Solar generated 12.4% of Belgium's electricity in 2025. The Walloon and Brussels regions offer separate regional incentive programmes with varying prosumer compensation rates.
Italy's flagship Superbonus has been reduced from 110% to 65% for 2026 following the government's budget adjustments. Solar panel installations with energy storage remain eligible for the deduction, spread over 10 years. The Scambio sul Posto (net metering) programme continues unchanged at a maximum of 200 kW for residential and commercial systems.
UK-based Oxford PV has begun commercial production of its perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells, achieving 28.6% module efficiency — the highest for any commercially available residential panel. Initial shipments are targeted at European premium residential installers at a price premium of approximately 35% over standard TOPCon. The company projects cost parity with TOPCon by 2028 as production scales.
Spain's Ministry for Ecological Transition has implemented Royal Decree 244/2019 amendments that cap permitting timelines at 30 days for residential self-consumption systems up to 15 kW. Previously, permitting routinely took 6–12 months. Spain added 9.7 GW of solar in 2025, with residential self-consumption (autoconsumo) growing 47% year-over-year.
KfW's flagship renewable energy loan (programme 270) has been updated for 2026 with a fixed interest rate of 1.98% for 10-year terms. The loan now explicitly covers home battery storage paired with solar, up to €150,000 per project. Applications are made through the homeowner's bank, not directly through KfW.
BloombergNEF data shows TOPCon modules took 48% of European residential solar module shipments in 2025, up from 22% in 2023. HJT remains a premium niche at 8% due to higher manufacturing costs. Mono-PERC is now primarily shipped as a budget tier. Average residential TOPCon efficiency in Europe reached 22.4% in 2025, with leading products at 23.5%.
France's ANAH has updated MaPrimeRénov for 2026, raising the ceiling for solar panel subsidies to €4,000 for modest-income households and €2,500 for intermediate-income households. The programme now explicitly includes battery storage as an eligible expenditure when paired with new solar panels. Applications are made through the renovationmaison.fr portal.
Poland transitioned from net metering to a net billing system (opust) in 2022, which stores surplus generation as monetary credits at 80–100% of the market price depending on system size. In 2026, prosumers with systems installed before April 2022 continue under the original net metering rules until their 15-year contract ends. New installations use the net billing model with a 12-month credit rollover window.
Under Spain's simplified compensation regime (SCR), homeowners with solar systems up to 100 kW can offset surplus generation against their electricity bill at the hourly pool price. In 2025, the average compensation rate was €0.087/kWh — well below Spain's average retail rate of €0.19/kWh, reinforcing the case for battery storage to self-consume rather than export.
The EU's anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures on Chinese solar modules, first introduced in 2013 and re-extended several times, have not been renewed for 2026. The expiry of minimum import prices has caused European module prices to fall 15–22% in Q1 2026. While this benefits homeowners, it has accelerated the financial pressure on European panel manufacturers including Meyer Burger and REC Group.
France's CRE has published the H1 2026 feed-in tariff rates for the EDF Obligation d'Achat (OA) programme. For residential systems under 9 kWp, the rate is €0.1321/kWh for surplus injection and €0.0671/kWh for total injection contracts. The rate is reviewed every quarter. At France's average retail electricity price of €0.24/kWh, self-consumption remains significantly more valuable than grid injection.