A solar MW in the UK now earns more than one in Spain
TLDR - it's not really due to the Iran war, or the recent sunshine!
I often think energy throws up more surprises than British weather. I’m not sure I ever foresaw solar PV being more lucrative in cloudy Britain than sunny Spain. However, that’s the reality I realised while writing a recent LinkedIn post musing the idea of an interconnector to the UK:
§1 · The headline crossover
First some headline numbers from 2025:
There’s about twice as much usable solar power in a typical Spanish PV site compared to the UK. However, the wholesale cost of that energy is less than half. So the net revenue, if the solar is to be sold without subsidies or CfDs is slightly higher in the UK, at least at current exchange rates.
§2 · Why? Yield vs capture price
Turns out the North-South inversion of solar yields (sunshine) to captured prices is actually the norm among Britain’s power-trading neighbours (and Germany - to which it will soon be connected)
