Europe’s solar fleet saved €20 billion in gas imports since Middle East war began

Over the 137-day period, solar delivered average savings of €146 million per day. This is more than France spends on defence each day, reflecting the growing value of secure, homegrown energy. France’s 2025 defence budget amounts to €52.3 billion, or around €143 million per day.

Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO of SolarPower Europe (she/her) said: “Every megawatt-hour generated by solar power reduces our dependence on imported fossil fuels and makes Europe safer. This news follows solar becoming EU’s largest single source of electricity in June, supplying 25% of the bloc’s power. It’s a demonstration of the returns on Europe’s investment in abundant, homegrown renewable energy resources. We can go further and faster. Deeper electrification, more renewable generation, and non-fossil flexibility solutions such as battery storage are the answer. Combined, they can shield Europe from the risk of future fossil fuel price shocks, and that’s the route to long-term energy security in the EU.”

An up-to-date tracker of solar-driven gas import savings is available on the SolarPower Europe homepage.