Solar Power and Storage: Nearly a Million Jobs, SolarPower Europe

The European solar and battery storage sectors accounted for 982,000 jobs in 2025, according to SolarPower Europe’s new 2026 European Solar Employment Report. Solar power accounts for 874,000 jobs and battery storage for 108,000. A figure close to a million jobs, but masking a concerning slowdown in growth.

Despite a difficult market environment, solar employment continued to grow in 2025. While total employment in the European Union rose 0.5%, solar employment increased by 1%, twice as fast. This trend exceeded previous forecasts, driven by a European market that installed 69 GW of new solar capacity in 2025.

For the first time, SolarPower Europe includes a specific assessment of employment linked to battery storage in its report. The sector already supports 108,000 jobs in manufacturing, deployment, operation, maintenance, and end-of-life activities.

This growth coincides with the rapid expansion of the European energy storage market. In four years, the installed battery capacity in the European Union has increased twelvefold, reaching approximately 80 GWh.

“Around one million people now work in the solar and storage sectors across Europe: on rooftops, on construction sites, in engineering teams, in public services, and throughout the supply chain,” highlights Walburga Hemetsberger, General Director of SolarPower Europe.

She nevertheless warns against the risk of this momentum slowing down if deployment slows and if the need for flexibility in the electricity system remains inadequately addressed.

Deployment remains the primary source of employment in the European solar sector, accounting for approximately 85% of the workforce. Jobs related to operation and maintenance continue to grow as installed capacity increases.

Manufacturing, however, is navigating a more difficult period, marked by factory closures, global overcapacity, and intense international competition.

Another notable evolution: for the first time since the launch of this series of studies, employment in large solar power plants slightly exceeds that in rooftop photovoltaics. Large-scale projects now represent slightly more than half of all solar jobs in Europe.

Germany remains the top solar employer in the Union with around 165,000 jobs, followed by Spain. Italy comes in third with around 85,000 jobs. Together, these three countries account for nearly half of all European solar employment. France, Romania, and Poland are also among the main markets.

Despite these figures, SolarPower Europe believes the current trajectory remains concerning. If deployment pace stagnates, solar employment could decline by 2030.

The report highlights several factors: budget constraints, increasing episodes of negative electricity prices, investment and deployment difficulties, and insufficient deployment of flexibility solutions.

For Christophe Lits, author of the report and senior analyst at SolarPower Europe, the priority is now to transform European ambitions into concrete projects: “People need access pathways to these jobs, accessible training, and projects to work on.”

SolarPower Europe therefore calls for simultaneously accelerating electrification, storage and flexibility development, as well as training and retraining pathways. The challenge is now to consolidate a sector approaching a million jobs, but whose growth can no longer be considered guaranteed.