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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) phases in mandatory solar: new public and non-residential buildings above 250 m² by the end of 2026, existing non-residential buildings above 500 m² by the end of 2027, and new residential buildings and roofed car parks by the end of 2029. The measure supports the REPowerEU 2030 solar target.
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 market report shows the EU reached 406 GW of installed solar capacity in 2025. Record installation years in Spain, Germany, and Poland are driving progress, but the industry warns permitting bottlenecks remain the biggest barrier to hitting the ≥700 GW REPowerEU 2030 target on time.
Germany's updated Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) raised the permitted inverter output for plug-in balcony solar systems (Balkonkraftwerk) from a 600 W to an 800 VA cap, alongside a 2,000 W (2 kW) module-power cap and simplified Marktstammdatenregister (MaStR) registration — there is no separate 'terrace' allowance. Registration via the Marktstammdatenregister remains required.
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 applied at 65% to expenses incurred in 2025 only, down from the original 110% following the government's budget adjustments. For 2026, solar PV no longer qualifies for the Superbonus and instead falls under the ordinary renovation deduction (detrazione ristrutturazione edilizia): 50% for a primary residence and 36% otherwise, 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 made its first commercial perovskite-silicon tandem shipment in September 2024 (a US utility-scale project). Current commercial module efficiency is around 25%, with the company targeting 26% in 2026. 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 an individual, credit-dependent rate (market-tracking) for 10-year terms. The loan now explicitly covers home battery storage paired with solar, up to €150 million per project. Applications are made through the homeowner's bank, not directly through KfW.
Industry shipment data shows TOPCon now dominates new solar module shipments globally, with mono-PERC in decline and now primarily shipped as a budget tier. HJT remains a premium niche due to higher manufacturing costs. Leading residential TOPCon modules reach around 23.5% efficiency.
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.
France's CRE and the arrêté of 1 June 2026 set the current EDF Obligation d'Achat (OA) feed-in tariff. For residential systems under 9 kWc, the tariff is now a single surplus-only rate of 1.1 c€/kWh (€0.011/kWh) — a sharp cut from the prior ~12.69 c€/kWh; full-injection contracts are no longer offered in this size band. The rate is reviewed periodically. At France's average retail electricity price of €0.24/kWh, self-consumption remains significantly more valuable than grid injection.