EU solar jobs headed to first decrease in decade

Jobs in the European Union’s solar industry reached a record level last year, however they are dropping in 2025.

Nevertheless, the decrease in solar jobs this year could be only temporary, according to SolarPower Europe’s latest report.

Europe’s green job expansion continued in 20254, with EU solar jobs rising to a record high of 865,000. The sector’s 5% increase outperformed the wider EU labour market’s 0.8% growth, the EU Solar Jobs Report 2025 showed.

Most jobs, 86%, are provided by the solar deployment sector.

EU solar employment will face a temporary drop in 2025, of 5% decline to 825,000 jobs, due to slower solar deployment and manufacturing challenges, the update reads.

Nevertheless, the association expects solar workforce to grow over the coming years and reach 916,000 by 2029.

Solar delivers 825,000 quality jobs for Europe in 2025, said Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO of SolarPower Europe. It is incredible, she added.

“However, this falls short of the one million solar job mark we were hoping to reach by now, and for the first time in a decade, solar jobs growth has halted. We can’t ignore this warning. EU leaders have the opportunity to reverse course, stabilise the market, support EU solar manufacturers, and strengthen its skills strategy,” Hemetsberger stated.

The main reason for the decrease this year is a slowdown in residential solar. The share of EU rooftop solar workforce has been shrinking for the last three years, from 73% in 2022, to 59% in 2024, and it is projected to land at 56% in 2029, according to the report.

In July, the association estimated that the EU’s annual solar installations would come in weaker year-on-year in 2025 for the first time in a decade. The warning coincided with the month when solar power became the EU’s biggest electricity source for the first time.

Germany remained the leading EU country for employment

The largest national solar markets also represented the largest sources of solar employment in the EU.

Germany remained in the lead in employment last year, with around 128,000 direct and indirect full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs. However, the level tumbled from 154,000, registered in 2023, despite a jump in new installations to 17.2 GW from 15.1 GW.

Spain ranked second, with 122,000 FTEs. Italy saw significant growth, with the solar job market surpassing 100,000 workers, placing it third in the EU. Other top markets included Poland (90,000), France (66,000), Romania (62,000), and Hungary (47,000), the report adds.

SolarPower Europe issued ten policy recommendations for maintaining job growth:

Establish a European solar skills intelligence hub.
Scale and stabilize funding for renewable skills, with simplified access for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Map existing skills initiatives.
Conclude sectoral agreements to enable large-scale retraining.
Run coordinated campaigns to improve the attractiveness of technical green careers as well as apprenticeships and vocational training.
Promote gender balance and diversity in solar careers.
Develop cross-renewable career pathways and portable competence frameworks.
Introduce a European solar skills passport.
Adopt an electrification skills strategy that links photovoltaics with heat, mobility and storage.
Invest in advanced digital and artificial intelligence (AI) training.

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May 9, 2025

by AEA in News

Europe has record battery storage capacity growth in 2024 but expansion slows

New battery storage installations last year in Europe came in at an all-time high 21.9 GWh in capacity, though the leap wasn’t as impressive as in the previous years. The total reached 61.1 GWh. “If Europe has already entered the solar age, the battery storage age is just beginning,” said Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO of SolarPower Europe, which issued the annual report.

Europe marked the eleventh consecutive year of record-breaking battery storage installations – in capacity terms, the addition was 21.9 GWh. According to SolarPower Europe’s update, the new capacity was 15% bigger than in 2023, after effectively doubling for several years in a row.

The battery fleet ended December at 61.1 GWh. The growth rate in 2024 was 56%, compared to the 94% registered one year before.

The region that was tracked consists of the European Union, United Kingdom and Switzerland. The EU alone closed 2024 with 18.5 GWh in newly installed battery storage capacity.

“If Europe has already entered the solar age, the battery storage age is just beginning. With solar energy mainstreaming across the continent, now is the time for European decision makers to put batteries at the centre of a flexible, electrified energy system,” the organization’s Chief Executive Officer Walburga Hemetsberger stated.

She urged the European Commission to double down on its efforts and adopt an action plan as part of a broader energy system flexibility package. “The recent electricity outage in the Iberian Peninsula is a stark reminder of why this is important,” Hemetsberger pointed out.

BESS projection puts EU likely below 2030 target

In the most likely scenario, 29.7 GWh of battery storage will be installed this year, translating to a 36% annual growth in new capacity and 49% in total. The report anticipates a sixfold increase to 118 GWh added in 2029. It would bring the entirety of battery energy storage systems (BESS) to 399 GWh, of which 334 GWh in the EU.

However, it is far below the levels required to meet flexibility needs in a renewables-driven energy system, the annual report’s authors warned. A study showed that the EU needs 780 GWh by 2030 to fully support the transition.

This year the share of the new front-of-meter BESS, in the utility scale segment, is seen at 55%, against last year’s 40%. The absolute level would nearly double. As for behind the meter, commercial and industrial (C&I) systems grow to 12% from 10% of the new fleet while residential installations decline from 50% to 33% in 2025.

Drop in power prices from crisis levels faded appeal of battery storage capacity

Residential battery deployment declined by 11% in 2024 after years of rapid growth. The report attributes it to the drop in electricity prices when the energy crisis subsided, the removal or reduction of subsidies in key markets and a parallel decline in the deployment of residential solar power units.

Home batteries account for 57% of the whole cumulative level.

New large-scale grid batteries surged 79% against 2023, marking a turning point for utility-scale storage.

Last year new C&I installations were 17% bigger, remain below their potential and holding at one tenth of the whole capacity for several years now, the document shows. Companies in the segment generally invest in battery storage to maximize self-consumption from on-site photovoltaics, avoid peak demand charges and reduce reliance on backup diesel generators.

Additionally, solar and storage allow businesses to meet corporate sustainability targets by reducing carbon footprint of operations. Lastly, the electrification of production processes, heating, and transport fleets is driving unique use cases and a need for storage.

Spain lags but seen rebounding, reaching top five in 2025

The top growers and their positions in the chart were the same as in 2023: Germany (6.2 GWh), Italy (6 GWh), the United Kingdom (2.9 GWh), Austria (1.1 GWh) and Sweden (1 GWh). Together they had a 78% share in both new and cumulative installations.

Germany added slightly less on an annual scale than in 2023 amid a drop in newly installed residential units. Italy’s home battery segment also decreased, but the large-scale segment’s capacity surge brought the market to new heights. The UK experienced a temporary slump due to project delays at the large-scale level.

Last year Spain added less than 250 MWh in battery storage capacity, making it the 14th-biggest market in Europe. Overall it reached 1.7 GWh, of which 90% were small-scale systems.

The country’s new battery installations were 41% lower than in 2023. The Spanish market has been declining since 2022, but it is expected to enter the top five this year, with 1.3 GWh, amid a utility-scale segment’s revival.

BESS market requires level playing field

SolarPower Europe said the authorities need to encourage the participation of hybrid projects of solar and BESS in renewable energy auctions.

“Contracts for difference must be settled based on energy production rather than energy injection. This will allow the asset operator to receive the CfD for the PV asset while generating additional market-based revenues from the BESS. These extra revenues will eventually lead to lower bids from developers and reduce the support costs for society,” the document reads.

The EU must ensure transmission system operators (TSOs) procure balancing services in market-based procedures in which batteries can compete on a level playing field, the organization added. Some EU markets still rely on bilateral contracts that limit fair competition and exclude smaller storage assets, it underscored.

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