The UK’s solar farms and rooftops generated more electricity than ever before in the first five months of 2025, as the country enjoyed its sunniest spring on record.
The figures, revealed in new Carbon Brief analysis, show that the nation’s solar sites have generated a record 7.6 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity during January to May 2025.
This is some 42% higher than the 5.4TWh generated in the same period last year, as well as marking a much larger 260% increase in the past decade.
Solar hit a new half-hourly record of 13.2 gigawatts (GW) on 6 April and, for the first time, accounted for more than 10% of monthly electricity generation in two consecutive months (April and May).
The solar electricity generated in 2025 to date has avoided the need to import gas costing around £600m, which would have released 6m tonnes of carbon dioxide (MtCO2) when burned.
However, solar was still only the…
