SolarPower Europe estimates that current rooftop PV generation is underestimated by UE authorities and member states.
“According to our analysis published in SolarPower Europe’s Solar+ report, solar power generation alone is systematically underestimated in EU and member state statistics,” Raffaele Rossi, head of market intelligence at SolarPower Europe, told pv magazine.
By the end of 2025, the EU’s total installed solar capacity is expected to reach 406 GW. Based on aggregated country-level data, SolarPower Europe estimates PV electricity generation at 410 TWh. However, official EU operator statistics report only 275 TWh, a gap of more than 135 TWh, or 33%.
“There are several reasons that explain this phenomenon,” Rossi said. “Rooftop PV systems must be registered with local grid operators, but the registration process often fails to capture all installations. The transfer of data to national energy statistics is delayed and incomplete. In addition, the very large number of distributed PV systems, especially in the residential segment, requires the aggregation of data from millions of installations. This can create data management challenges for local grid operators, which often lack the capacity to handle such large volumes of information.”
Rossi added that self-consumed electricity is particularly difficult for grid operators to measure because it does not pass through their networks.
“Conventional electricity statistics do not account for self-consumption, even though 80% of distributed generation is stored in batteries,” he said. “Although smart meters can partly overcome this issue and improve data availability, in most cases they provide only net consumption data, rather than total solar power generation.”
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