In 2025, the UK solar and energy storage industry was booming with supportive legislation and record investment.
It’s been a big year for UK solar, so we’re watching it Solar energy portal most read stories of 2025. See Britain’s biggest solar news and commentary below.
Britain sets a new record for maximum solar generation
On April 1, between 12:30 and 1:00 p.m., the Britain has achieved a new record for maximum solar energy generation of 12.2 GW.
By comparison, on April 1, 2024, Britain recorded a peak generation capacity of 5.71 GW, while the peak for all of 2024 reached 11.5 GW on June 2.
The UK then set a new record for solar power generation just days later, 13.8 GW on April 6, and the 2025 peak came at 12:30 on July 8, reaching just over 14 GW, or 43% of demand. 2025 as a whole saw record solar PV generationcaused in part by record levels of insolation.
It is also worth noting that by November 2025, the number of rooftop solar PV installations in the UK will reach 206,682, a record 206,682. record for the sector This has brought the total number of certified small-scale solar installations in Britain to 1.85 million.
In Ireland, figures from grid operator EirGrid show that solar energy had generated more electricity in September 2025 than in all of 2024.
Fire in Statera’s Essex BESS project brought under control and returned to site management
In February we broke the news that a fire that broke out at an under-construction battery energy storage system (BESS) project in Essex was brought under control within 24 hours.
In response to a request for comment, BESS owner-operator Statera Energy confirmed this Energy storage.news that the project in question is owned by the company. Read more about the fire at Statera’s Essex BESS project.
The 300MW/600MWh BESS in Tilbury, called Thurrockwas one of the at the time largest projects under construction in Britainin addition to a 270 MW ‘flexible generation plant’, i.e. a gas-fired power plant.
Since then, and despite that setback, the Thurrock BESS came online in August this year. This contributed to the National Energy System Operator (NESO) predicting the impact this winter period would have lowest blackout risk since 2019/2020.
Solar deployment in Britain is expected to increase by 50% year-on-year, following rapid growth in the second half of 2024
An exciting projection from Solar Media Market Research analyst Josh Cornes in January this year predicted an increase in UK solar capacity of between 3 and 3.5 GWp-dc of capacity by 2025, just below the huge numbers of 2015 and the huge growth in 2024.
Read Jos’ story: Solar deployment in Britain is expected to increase by 50% year-on-year, following rapid growth in the second half of 2024.
More recently, Cornes estimated installed solar PV capacity in 2025 at about 23.8 GW, an increase of about 3.6 GW: 650 MW of small-scale installations, largely on residential rooftops, 450 MW of commercial rooftops added, and 2.5 GW of ground-mounted solar plants commissioned this year.
Check back in early 2026 to read his prediction for next year.
The top 10 largest solar parks in Great Britain
Not exactly breaking news, but clearly a useful resource: our next most-read article this year was a look at the largest operational solar power stations in the UK.
We last updated the article in September, since then the The Derril Water solar power plant, previously owned by the now bankrupt Ripple Energy, came online; with a capacity of 42 MW it wouldn’t have quite made our list, but next year, after approvals for Nationally Important Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) move through planning in 2025.
Here’s our list of the 10 largest solar farms in Britain.
Harmony Energy Income Trust agrees to £190.8m takeover offer
In March, Harmony Energy Income Trust (HEIT) announced that it had reached an agreement with Foresight Group LLP for the latter to potentially acquire the entire share capital of HEIT for 84.0p per share, making a total of £190.8m, after the trust announced this would happen. sells its portfolio in December 2024.
After news about the £190.8 million takeover deal broke, HEIT received one £200m cash offer from sustainable energy company Drax, higher than the offer from Foresight. However, Drax withdrew its offer in May after Foresight increased its bid. take over HEIT’s portfolio of eight grid-connected BESSs with a duration of 2 hours and a total capacity of approximately 400 MW/800 MWh in July.
The sale of HEIT’s UK portfolio raised questions about the viability of listed funds for BESS assets. At the time it was aAn anonymous source from BESS developer told our sister site Energy storage.news That HEIT’s problems, which led to its sale, have raised questions about whether these funds are the best way to raise money for BESS projects in the market.
Recently former non-executive chairman of HEIT Norman Crighton was appointed non-executive director of Gore Street Energy Storage Fund (GSF).
Great British Energy’s ‘first major project’ will see £200m of public investment in rooftop solar
In March, the UK government’s Great British Energy Company announced that its first step would be a £200 million investment in rooftop solar for public buildings – schools and NHS sites.
Until then, activities are included partnerships with Crown Estate and Crown Estate Scotland and the appointment of Dan McGrailwho led the trade body representing companies developing wind, wave, tidal, storage and green hydrogen projects in Britain, had proposed focusing on offshore generation technologies.
Since the funding was announced, the plan has been in place expanded several timesoffering a total of £255 million to cover the installation of rooftop solar at 250 schools and 270 NHS sites and technologies such as solar panels and micro-wind turbines deployed over a wide area. series of military locations.
GB Energy recently published its five-year planwith the aim of establishing, through ownership and investment, a portfolio of “at least” 15 GW of clean energy generation and storage capacity and mobilizing £15 billion of private finance through out-of-pocket spending.
The strategic plan, a response to the the government’s Statement of Strategic Priorities, published in Septemberwhich sets out the key focus areas for the business and how it will achieve its objectives.
Read the original reporting from Great British Energy’s £200 million investment in rooftop solar.
Britain reaches 7 GWh of BESS, but growth slowed in 2024; Ireland is growing
Similar to Josh Cornes’ solar overview above, a January piece that used Solar Media Market Research figures to summarize BESS deployment in 2024 was a good read. Read the market research team’s summary of the BESS implementation in the UK and Ireland.
In-depth reporting based on this year’s UK Battery Storage Project Database Report from Solar Media Market Research available for Premium subscribers on Energy storage.newswith overviews published on our site. By 2026, Solar energy portal will take over the series, making monthly UK BESS market updates available to all our readers.
The ‘vicious policy battle’ continues as a decision on zonal pricing looms
Undoubtedly one of them the biggest announcements of 2025 was the path chosen by the government following the review of the electricity market regulations (REMA).
Before the news broke, our piece on the two sides of the argument included commentary from Regen’s immediate Johnny Gowdy and Octopus Energy. The piece was read more widely than our original coverage of the decision, REMA: UK government rejects zonal pricing.
This explored the next steps for investors a contributed blog from Aurora Energy Research.
The ones to watch: NSIP moves in 2025
One of our articles from this time last year, published just before 2025, was our collection of NSIP projects on the Planning Inspectorate’s radar that would progress by 2025.
Like the top ten piece mentioned above, the article acts as an unofficial database for UK solar NSIPs and remains largely unchanged, with some project progress covered since then, including approvals from Energy Secretary Ed Miliband.
DESNZ unveils providers and projects for the Warm Homes Skills Program
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) announced the figures in September full list of subsidized training offered under the Warm Homes Skills programme.
The program was launched in April this year to provide up to 9,000 subsidized training opportunities for people looking to get into the solar panel installation or retrofit workforce.
Building on this, the government has set out its objectives and methods for the equitable development of a clean energy workforce ‘Clean Energy Jobs Plan’published in October.
Thank you for reading and supporting our reporting this year.
