Eastern Europe’s Solar Boom Explained

When it comes to the rise of solar power, you'd probably think about manufacturing powerhouses like China or in European terms, countries with a lot of sun, like Spain or Portugal. However,

solar power has become a huge source of renewable energy in several central or Eastern European countries, with Hungary and Lithuania among the states with the highest share of electricity production

from solar energy in the world. And

Hungary setting a new global monthly record of solar supply this year. So, in

this video, we're going to take a look at Eastern Europe's solar power boom, what other countries can learn from it, and why the upward trend faces some hurdles.

If you love staying informed and want some of the best reporting on YouTube, then subscribe and ring the bell for more. Let's start by looking back a few

more. Let's start by looking back a few years. The upward trend in European

years. The upward trend in European solar power really took off in the 2010s and by the end of the decade it accounted for nearly 10% of total electricity production in a number of

countries such as Italy and Greece. In

many countries, particularly Poland, fossil fuels like coal were a huge part of the energy mix, whereas renewables like solar in general did not play much of a role. In Poland, this development

has only recently been reversed. Even

though coal is still important, its share in Poland's monthly energy production has been decreasing at a growing rate for a few years. A

development seen also in the rest of Europe, while renewable energy is on the rise. In fact, with the help of a nearly

rise. In fact, with the help of a nearly 2,000% increase in solar generation since 2019, Poland was able to reduce its coal power output by 26%. Thus,

effectively cutting fossil fuel emission by 22 million metric tonses of CO2. In

Lithuania, solar power made up 19% of the entire electricity supply in 2024, putting it among Europe's top solar producers and even reaching its 2030

target for annual installation of solar PV capacity 5 years early. Meanwhile, in

Hungary, gas and nuclear power have previously been key sources of energy.

However, despite a second spring of nuclear power starting in the mid-200s, since 2015, its share in electricity generation has slowly but steadily declined with gas going the same

direction. Concurrently, solar power has

direction. Concurrently, solar power has been steadily on the rise, overtaking gas as the second largest electricity source in Hungary last year. Solar has

also been on the rise further east in, for example, Romania and Bulgaria, with the latter having tripled its solar capacity between 2020 and 2024.

It's worth noting that solar power has been on an upward trend across Europe, not just Central and Eastern Europe. In

fact, between 2019 and 2024, cumulative solar generation within the EU effectively increased 2 and a half times. But in Hungary, Poland, Slovakia,

times. But in Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, there was a nearly six-fold increase. In terms of the share of solar power within the energy mix, Eastern Europe as a whole

has also outpaced Europe overall, going from 2% of Eastern Europe's electricity generation mix in 2019 to topping 10% in

2024, compared to 7% for Europe overall, up from 3% in 2019. So, why is solar power boomed in such a relatively short time span? Things like sunken costs for

time span? Things like sunken costs for solar panel technology has helped fuel the wider increase. But as for the increase in central and eastern Europe, we see three main factors. The first is

residential installation. In Poland, for

residential installation. In Poland, for example, the number of solar panels installed on private homes has gone up significantly, massively funded by a national program by the government

called my electricity that started in 2019 and provided subsidies for household solar installation. Since

then, the number of photovoltaic systems installed in the country has risen to more than 1.5 million units, resulting in a total installed capacity of 12.7

gawatt in 2024, compared to just 0.2 gawatt of solar capacity in 2016.

Residential installations have also played a role in the Czech Republic as part of the new green savings program, which intends to reduce CO2 emissions and reform the entire housing sector to

become more climate friendly, including by subsidizing solar installations. By

cutting up front costs, these programs proved attractive to households seeking to reduce their bills. A second factor driving the solar boom is less to do with becoming independent of fossil

fuels and more to do with becoming independent from those who provide them.

You may have guessed it by now.

Dependence on Russia as an energy supplier has been an issue for many central and eastern European countries since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. For

instance, Poland pushed for a new energy strategy altogether in March 2022 called Energy Policy of Poland until 2040 or EP2040 with the declared aim of becoming

independent from fuel imports from Russia with a new focus on renewable energies. The strategy paper

energies. The strategy paper acknowledged that energy micro installations like residential solar panels were already on the rise and set an intention of continuing this trend.

Other countries in Eastern Europe completely cut energy ties with Russia, notably the Baltic states. Lithuania,

Estonia, and Latvia not only gave up on Russian fossil fuels, but also disconnected from Russia's power network and synchronized their electricity grids with the much cleaner continental European synchronous area. In Lithuania,

for example, this transition towards renewables and energy independence saw solar and wind power account for 65% of the country's power generation in 2024.

Interestingly though, this anti-Russian tilt does not apply to Hungary. Even

though solar power has been on the rise and with many other options to diversify the energy supply, the Hungarian government and also the Slovakian government have not just continued but

increased imports of gas and oil from Russia since 2022.

And finally, the rise in solar power generation has also been amplified by the deployment of grids scale battery systems, which are crucial for balancing supply and demand by storing electricity

for later release and use. Central and

Eastern Europe is actually something of a hub for battery development and manufacturing with Poland and Hungary consistently ranking among the top battery exporters in the world according

to the energy think tank Ember. However,

Ember also notes that battery deployment in central Europe is lagging behind solar growth, which has a knock-on effect for generation. In June 2025, for example, an average of 12% of power

generated by large-scale solar plants in Poland was cailed. However, Poland has recognized the importance of power storage and has plans to invest a

massive $4.7 billion in several battery storage projects. Other countries are

storage projects. Other countries are not so proactive. Hungary, which has among the lowest operating battery capacity in the EU, and Czecha have almost no battery storage projects in

the pipeline, according to Ember. So, if

the solar boom, which is great for decarbonizing energy production, and reducing reliance on the likes of Russia, is to be sustainable, countries need to make sure that it's happening alongside key things like sufficient

battery rollouts, grid upgrades, and demand flexibility measures. When a

story like this breaks, the headlines aren't just fast, they're fragmented.

Depending on where you get your news, you might be seeing a completely different version of the same event. But

if we take a look right now using ground news, we can see this story on Hungary seeking the US's blessing to keep buying Russian oil and that there are 477 sources currently reporting on it with

most of the coverage coming from the center. If we dive a bit deeper, we can

center. If we dive a bit deeper, we can see that the left is framing it as something that will not please other EU countries, and the right is framing it as a badly needed exemption for Hungary.

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