Based on the most recent data, solar power installations in the UK have experienced a significant surge, culminating in a total capacity of 15.7 gigawatts (GW) across 1,454,607 installations as of January 2024.
This marks a noteworthy increase of 6.6%, equivalent to 974 megawatts (MW), compared to the same period in 2023.
In January 2024 alone, there were 13,322 installations contributing to 58 MW of capacity. While this figure is slightly lower than the volumes recorded at the beginning of 2023, it still exceeds the average figures observed between 2016 and 2021.
The rebound of solar installations from the sharp decline experienced in April 2020 due to Covid-19 lockdown measures has been evident, with numbers surpassing pre-pandemic levels by the second half of 2020.
From 2016 to 2021, the median monthly rate of new installations hovered around 3,000.
In contrast, the median over the last 12 months has surged to surpass 15,000 installations monthly.
Although domestic installations constitute the bulk of the solar photovoltaic (PV) fleet in the UK, they only contribute 29% to the total capacity.
However, there has been a recent upswing fuelled by residential installations, which represented 84% of new schemes installed in January 2024.
This surge amounted to 44 megawatts, constituting 77% of the new capacity.
