New Ranking Reveals The Countries in Western Europe With Most Solar-Powered Homes

New analysis by solar subscription company Sunsave reveals the Western European countries with the highest proportion of solar panelled homes — finding that The Netherlands is by far the leading nation at a huge 34%, and is the only country to exceed 10%.

Germany is ranked second, where just under one in 10 homes have panels installed (9.8%), followed by Italy (6.1%), the UK (5.3%), then Sweden (4.6%), to make up the top five.

Sunsave researchers compiled the figures from various government reports and industry publications, and compared them with official household numbers to find the solar penetration rates for each country.

Please see the full ranking here:

It’s no coincidence that the top three countries all have much more generous government incentives for homeowners switching to solar.

With over a third of homes already using solar energy, The Netherlands aims to make 70% of its electricity renewable by 2030. They’ve incentivised residential solar uptake with various schemes such as the Investment Subsidy for Sustainable Energy (ISDE), which covers part of the cost, and a net metering scheme (salderingsregeling) that allows homeowners to offset the energy they feed back into the grid with the energy they use each year. This scheme has been in place since 2004, and has proven extremely attractive for Dutch homeowners.

Second ranked Germany has taken similar steps, with their Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) guaranteeing a fixed payment to homeowners for every kilowatt-hour of electricity they generate, as well as individual state governments offering a variety of local solar grants.

Italy sparked a surge of solar panel installations across the country in 2020 with the launch of its generous Superbonus, offering homeowners a tax credit of up to 110% of the cost. The scheme is still running today, and it’s a little less extravagant (now offering to pay 50% of the installation cost to certain properties), but it’s still a very appealing deal. Like The Netherlands, Italy also has its own net metering scheme (Scambio sul posto).

Based on government data released on 27 March 2025, Sunsave has calculated that 5.3% of homes in the UK now have solar panels — which puts the country at an impressive fourth in the rankings. However, there is no net metering scheme, and grants are available to a very limited number of households. The Smart Export Guarantee, which launched in January 2020, is gradually becoming more attractive to solar panel owners, but it’s still yet to pay as much as the now-defunct Feed-in Tariff.

With energy bills forecast to remain high until at least the late 2030s, and the UK’s electricity demand expected to more than double between 2023 and 2025, the role of solar is becoming more important than ever — but a standard residential system is simply unaffordable for many UK homes, costing thousands of pounds upfront. If the UK is to catch up with its European neighbours, it’s vital that this barrier is eliminated through government incentives and new innovations such as a solar subscription model.

On the findings, Alick Dru co-founder at Sunsave, states: “Comparing European figures for domestic solar uptake is eye opening. It really highlights the countries that are making an active effort to help homeowners turn to renewables and save on their energy bills.

It’s particularly encouraging to see how enthusiastically The Netherlands have embraced solar panels. Despite having a climate that’s so similar to the UK’s, people there have switched to the technology in their droves.

The UK’s electricity consumption is expected to more than double by 2050, which means electricity bills are going to become even more expensive. Solar is the answer, and we believe our solar subscription is going to unlock savings for millions of homes.”