2025 renewables barometer: a record 7 GW connected, but an uncertain future
Published on 23 January 2026, the barometer records a fleet exceeding 86 GW, driven above all by photovoltaics.
On 23 January 2026, ADEME published its barometer of renewable electricity in France. The finding is twofold: renewable generation has never been higher, nor capacity additions more dynamic, than in 2025, but 2026 opens in a context of uncertainty.
In 2025, France connected more than 7 gigawatts of new renewable electricity capacity. This unprecedented volume is an annual record and brings the national fleet to more than 86 GW at the end of the year.
This momentum comes on top of an already favourable context: in 2024, renewable electricity generation had reached a historic level of 155 TWh, covering 31.3% of the country's electricity consumption.
Growth nevertheless remains largely driven by photovoltaics alone, which accounts for more than 5 GW of the new capacity connected.
Conversely, onshore wind is slowing, with barely 1 GW of new installations in 2025, while offshore wind is still struggling to scale up.
This imbalance between sectors raises a fundamental question for system balancing: photovoltaics generates on a profile heavily concentrated in daylight hours, which correspondingly increases the value of consumption-shifting capacity.