'Record year' saw global solar capacity reach 178GW in 2014

Will Nichols
clock •

About 40GW added last year, industry figures show, with market tipped to hit 540GW by the end of the decade

A record year of growth in the solar sector saw global capacity hit 178GW last year, industry figures reveal. At least 40GW of photovoltaic (PV) systems were installed worldwide in 2014, up from 37GW...

To continue reading this article...

Join BusinessGreen

In just a few clicks you can start your free BusinessGreen Lite membership for 12 months, providing you access to:

  • Three complimentary articles per month covering the latest real-time news, analysis, and opinion from Europe’s leading source of information on the Green economy and business
  • Receive important and breaking news stories via our daily news alert
  • Our weekly newsletter with the best of the week’s green business news and analysis

Join now

 

Already a BusinessGreen member?

Login

Will Nichols
Author spotlight

Will Nichols

View profile
More from Will Nichols

Intelligent Energy hails 'transformational' £1.2bn India fuel cell deal

The end of the beginning...

More on Solar

'Tremendous news': Certified solar rooftop installations smash all-time UK record in 2025
Solar

'Tremendous news': Certified solar rooftop installations smash all-time UK record in 2025

More than 200,000 certified solar installations have been added to household rooftops across the country so far this year, according to the latest MCS data

Michael Holder
Michael Holder
clock 13 November 2025 • 3 min read
'You can't eat electricity': How rural solar farms became the latest battlefront in Britain's culture war
Solar

'You can't eat electricity': How rural solar farms became the latest battlefront in Britain's culture war

Solar farms have been dragged into the culture wars, but is it possible for policymakers to map out a route towards a truce?

Alex Heffron, Lancaster University and Tom Carter-Brookes, Keele University - The Conversation
clock 06 November 2025 • 5 min read
Exceedingly good solar: Mr Kipling unveils £2.1m solar farm at Barnsley bakery
Solar

Exceedingly good solar: Mr Kipling unveils £2.1m solar farm at Barnsley bakery

New 2.2MW on site solar farm installed to power cake production and cut carbon at the Premier Foods site in South Yorkshire

Stuart Stone
Stuart Stone
clock 30 October 2025 • 2 min read