Portugal, Spain and their neighbors swim in photovoltaic energy, but pay for electricity at gold prices at sunset. The extreme heat, shutdowns in nuclear power plants, and the lack of storage capacity or better interconnections have made nights the Achilles' heel of the European electrical grid.

Almost three-quarters of all solar and wind energy projects under construction in the world are in China.

The new data from the think tank Ember shows that solar energy accounted for 22.1% of the EU's electricity mix in June 2025, just surpassing nuclear energy and, notably, fossil fuels.