- Global renewable capacity additions reached 692 GW in 2025, with solar accounting for 75% of new deployment.
- Industry leaders highlight a shift from volume driven growth to value focused solar and storage integration.
- Solar plus storage solutions increasingly seen as essential for data centres, industry, and off grid applications.
The 5th Global Solar and Energy Storage Summit 2026, hosted online by JA Solar, convened more than 20 senior representatives from international organisations and major industry players to examine the accelerating global energy transition. The event attracted over 20,000 participants across more than 30 countries and featured contributions from organisations including IRENA, S&P Global, BloombergNEF, SolarPower Europe and TÜV NORD, alongside utilities, developers, investors and technology providers.
Speakers at the summit highlighted that 2025 marked a record year for renewable energy deployment, with 692 GW of new capacity added globally, of which solar contributed 75%. Ilina Stefanova of IRENA noted that while growth momentum remains strong, greater policy support and investment certainty will be required to sustain deployment levels needed to meet global climate objectives toward 2030.
Market analysis presented by S&P Global indicated that global solar installations reached 617 GW in 2025, driven primarily by activity in China, Europe and North America. Analysts suggested that although growth may moderate in 2026, the sector is entering a more mature phase where competition is increasingly defined by system value, performance optimisation and long term revenue stability rather than capacity expansion alone.
A central theme of the summit was the rapid evolution toward integrated energy systems combining solar generation with energy storage and other digital and grid enabling technologies. JA Solar Chief Technology Officer Dr Zi Ouyang described this approach as Solar plus Storage plus X, reflecting the expanding range of applications enabled by hybrid energy solutions.
He stated that standalone photovoltaic systems are no longer sufficient to meet increasingly complex energy demand patterns and highlighted the role of integrated systems in improving flexibility and resilience across power networks. He also pointed to emerging use cases including artificial intelligence driven data centres, industrial parks and remote microgrids as key growth areas for advanced solar storage deployment.
Panel discussions throughout the event reinforced the shift toward value driven project development, with participants emphasising that system efficiency, lifecycle performance and financial optimisation are becoming more important than upfront cost considerations. Industry experts also noted that integrated solar storage solutions are increasingly critical to unlocking project bankability and ensuring long term operational stability.
Another session examined energy transformation across diverse environments, ranging from desert based installations to urban energy networks. Applications discussed included mining operations, modern agricultural systems, transport infrastructure and distributed urban microgrids. Participants highlighted the importance of designing resilient systems capable of operating under extreme environmental conditions while meeting rising demand from electrification and digital infrastructure.
JA Solar used the summit to reaffirm its position in the global energy transition, emphasising its focus on advanced technology development and strategic partnerships to support scalable clean energy deployment. The company stated that collaboration across the value chain will be essential to delivering resilient and flexible energy systems capable of meeting evolving global demand patterns.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
