Featured in Building resilience – 04-2026

Rooftop solar’s rule of three

Data from leading market intelligence providers show falling installation rates for residential PV across much of Europe. Renewable energy consultant Ben Hayden argues that these headline figures mask key trends in a market that is shifting rather than contracting, with plug-in solar and the prosumer segment presenting significant growth opportunities.

By

pv magazine

06 Apr 2026

Solar panels precariously placed above the doorway to a house.

Not all balcony solar installations show up in official data. | Image: RobbieIanMorrison/CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

The numbers appear straightforward. Residential solar’s share of EU installations fell from 28% in 2023 to 14% in 2025, according to SolarPower Europe. Nineteen European markets saw residential contraction. The European Union recorded its first overall decline in annual solar additions in a decade. But these headline figures aggregate three fundamentally different markets into one. …

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