Solar leads Belgium and Spain renewables push in 2025–2026

Solar is now the leading generation technology in Spain for April 2026 and the primary driver of Belgium's 2025 renewables record. The data points come from two separate TSO releases but tell a consistent story: utility-scale solar is reshaping generation stacks faster than any other technology in both markets.

In Belgium, Elia's full-year 2025 figures show solar output up 21%, pushing renewables to a new aggregate high. Nuclear generation declined over the same period, and imports continued to rise. Elia flags both details without publishing a full percentage breakdown in the headline release.

In Spain, Red Eléctrica's April 2026 monthly report shows solar PV at 25% of the national generation mix, a 24.2% year-on-year increase for the month. Renewables as a whole covered 59.8% of output. Behind-the-meter self-consumption added a further 1,233 GWh, a figure Red Eléctrica tracks separately and excludes from grid-flow totals. Adjusted demand was down 2.1% versus April 2025, though the January–April cumulative is still 0.4% above the prior-year period on the same adjusted basis, at 84,358 GWh gross.

For capture-price positioning, the growing solar share in both zones reinforces the structural downward pressure on midday prices. Belgium's rising import dependency alongside nuclear decline adds a cross-border flow dimension that traders in the CWE region will need to track through the second half of 2025 and into 2026.