France, Spain Set Record Solar Power Generation in Early May

PARIS/MADRID – France and Spain achieved historic solar photovoltaic generation milestones during the first week of May, underscoring the accelerating expansion of renewable energy capacity across Southern Europe. On May 6, Spain recorded its highest-ever solar PV output for a May day, generating 229 gigawatt-hours (GWh), while France set a new May record on May 8 with 160 GWh, according to data from national grid operators and European energy monitoring platforms.

With strong growth connecting Spain's solar energy sector, Spain showed a significant rise in solar production (10% increase compared to the previous week). The next biggest increase in solar production had been seen in Portugal also (8.8%). France also saw a decrease (5.9%). These developments make Spain the peak for expanding Europe's solar energy, supported by sufficient levels of the sun's rays and the rapid expansion of Spain's installed solar inverter capacity.

In early 2026, Spain installed solar capacity was estimated to have by reached 50GW and constitutes 33.9% of Spain's total installed electric power. A total of about 8.7GW of new solar energy generating capacity will have been connected to the grid in 2025. The data from Red Eléctrica de España shows that, based on calculations from Patagonia, solar energy produced approximately 18.4% of total electricity anticipated in Spain's final energy production numbers in 2025.

Renewable energy produced over a recent 24-hour market period accounted for a total of 68% of energy previously produced in Spain. Both solar and wind energy achieved record output from both technologies during this same time frame. Spain's PV (photovoltaic) capacity has grown by 2x from 2019 to the present time in 2026 (total capacity in the entire country was 40GW), Spain's PV capacity has exceeded all European countries (other than Germany) while Spain has had about 1/2 of the total capacity footprint size of the electricity markets listed above.

France's solar generation surged to approximately 20 GW during peak hours on May 8, breaking a previous record set in July 2025, according to grid operator RTE. The unprecedented output exceeded the operator's forecasts and triggered an unexpected plunge in wholesale electricity prices into negative territory.

Unlike typical oversupply scenarios where market anticipation drives day-ahead prices downward, Friday's record growth was described as a "sudden event," with spot market prices dipping below zero only during intraday trading. French nuclear generation remained high at around 33 GW, and state-owned utility EDF continued to operate reactors at full capacity at the grid operator's request to maintain system stability. Around midday - a public holiday in France - the combined solar and nuclear output exceeded electricity demand by approximately 10 GW, with the surplus exported to neighboring countries.

The incident highlighted a structural imbalance in France's power system: highly variable solar generation is increasingly mismatched with nuclear capacity that lacks rapid modulation flexibility. France deployed 5.9 GW of new solar capacity in 2025 - a national record - bringing cumulative installed PV capacity to approximately 31.1 GW. In the first quarter of 2026, the country added another 1,418 MW of photovoltaic capacity, maintaining a steady deployment pace.

While solar output surged in Iberia and France, wind energy generation exhibited divergent patterns across the continent during the same period. Portugal reported a dramatic 171 percent increase in wind output, while Spain posted a more modest 3.1 percent rise, marking its second consecutive week of growth. In contrast, northern European markets experienced significant declines: Germany recorded a 41 percent drop in wind generation, followed by France with a 36 percent decrease - both extending downward trends for a second consecutive week.

Spain and France have announced some pretty lofty goals for renewable energy. Spain wants to get to 67% renewable generated electricity by 2026, while its overall installed capacity should be around 179 GW by 2030 with 76 GW being from solar power sources. France's target is to increase its total renewable energy capacity by three times within the next ten years.

The amount of solar production has changed the electricity market so much so that it is now creating new challenges as we have seen here recently, such as the increased occurrence of negative pricing events. Negative pricing events occurred in April 2026 after day-ahead prices for about three hours reached and then captured the regulatory floor of -€500 per MWh. It appears that the daytime oversupply situation in France, Germany, and Spain is becoming a generally accepted structural condition to occur during the day time; and as the April 2026 data also indicates, the capture factors in major European markets were affected by this change in the supply/demand curve.

According to forecasts from AleaSoft Energy Forecasting, there should be a rebound for solar output during the week of May 11 in Germany, Spain and Italy while also seeing wind power come back into line with the more stable generation from these countries (Germany , Italy, Spain and France) after the volatility that has been seen earlier in May.In addition to demonstrating levels of continued investment in photovoltaic infrastructure in Spain and France, the records set in May could be an early warning regarding future challenges with managing the grid as variable renewables make up a larger share of total renewable generation in Europe .