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2025 in review: The Year of Flexibility

by Walburga Hemetsberger - 18 December 2025

As the sun begins to set on 2025, I would like to use this year’s final edition of our newsletter to reflect on the year gone by. It has been a year marked by challenges. Global conflict and insecurity have impacted people everywhere, exposing vulnerabilities across our continent and beyond. These events weigh heavily on our hearts. The solar sector, too, has faced difficulties: solar growth has slowed, and that impact has been felt across the industry.

Despite these obstacles, there have been some bright moments that give me hope for the coming year.

On the political front, several new initiatives have emerged that are highly promising for the solar sector, putting renewables at the heart of Europe’s energy security, competitiveness, and climate action. This includes the EU’s Competitiveness Compass, the Clean Industrial Deal, the Affordable Energy Action Plan, and the 2040 climate targets.

We have also strengthened our relationships with key decision-makers. At our SolarPower Summit in March, we were honoured to welcome both Executive Vice President of the European Commission, Teresa Ribera, and EU Energy Commissioner, Dan Jørgensen, as keynote speakers.

This has truly been the year of flexibility. It is clear that flexibility is essential for supporting our energy system, ending dependence on imported fossil fuels, and improving energy security. Flexibility was the central theme of this year’s SolarPower Summit, and our Let’s Flex campaign brought the benefits of a flexible energy system into the spotlight throughout the year.

Most recently, we published our vision for an EU Flexibility Strategy, featuring new recommendations centred around three main pillars:

Adopting a flexibility-first approach to grid development
Unlocking the full potential of demand response
Embracing battery storage opportunities, aiming to multiply EU battery storage capacity tenfold by 2030

Just last week, the European Commission released its EU Grids Package. Highlights include the Grid Connection Guidance, which will provide Member States with clear instructions on designing effective rules for connecting grid-friendly projects, such as hybrid solar and storage projects, and on how to fairly remunerate users of flexible connection agreements. The Commission is also introducing targeted permitting legislation for energy storage, a crucial step towards achieving 10x battery storage in Europe. The TEN-E amendment establishes a long-awaited governance framework for network planning at the EU level. For the first time, the European Commission will be responsible for ensuring that cross-border grid planning aligns with our energy and climate goals.

SolarPower Europe, together with the Battery Storage Europe Platform (launched earlier this year), will continue to advocate for a flexible, electrified energy system underpinned by lots of energy storage.

In our final big announcement of the year, we delivered two important milestones: the publication of our annual flagship report, the EU Solar Market Outlook 2025-2030, and the launch of our new Market and Policy Navigator. This year’s report brings mixed news: while the EU has surpassed its 2025 target of 400 GW installed solar capacity, the solar market has contracted by 0.7%, putting the 2030 targets in question.

As the year draws to a close and we take time to recharge for what lies ahead, I wish you all a pleasant holiday break. Dark skies can’t hold back the promise of light.

My heartfelt thanks go to all our members, colleagues, and the SolarPower Europe team for another year of hard work and meaningful collaboration.

Walburga Hemetsberger

CEO, SolarPower Europe