Solar panels: Creuse, Ain and Vosges show the strongest increases in installations in France

Over the past twelve months, the rate of home installation with solar panels has increased the most in the Creuse, Ain, Vosges, Vaucluse, and Meuse departments. This trend demonstrates that the growth of residential photovoltaics is no longer limited to historically sunniest and best-equipped areas.

To measure this trend, Hello Watt used data from 112.000 households that reported having solar panels in its app. The company compared the rate of solar panel installation in homes in each department between July 2025 and July 2026.

Landes remains the best-equipped department

With 12,75% of homes equipped, Landes has the highest rate of equipment. It is ahead of Drôme (12,14%), Gard (11,87%), Haute-Garonne (11,61%), Isère (11,44%), Loire (10,89%), Pyrénées-Orientales (10,78%) and Rhône (10,61%)[3].

The presence of Isère, Loire and Rhône among the eight best-equipped departments confirms that sunshine alone is not enough to explain the development of residential photovoltaics.

Hello Watt suggests several other factors: the large proportion of individual houses, the income level in certain peri-urban areas, particularly around Lyon, Grenoble and Toulouse, as well as the daytime electricity consumption needs, linked among other things to air conditioning.

A deployment that is spreading across the entire territory

Nationally, residential solar energy is spreading at a relatively consistent rate, with an average increase in the installation rate of 0,28 percentage points in one year. The most significant increases are observed in the Creuse, Ain, Vosges, Vaucluse and Meuse departments.

This momentum is thus spreading to departments with diverse profiles, particularly in northeastern France. Conversely, progress is slower in some departments in the south of the country, where solar power is already more developed.

France now has 1,24 million solar installations, representing 6% of equipped homes[4], compared to 5,41%[5] a year earlier. The number of installations has thus increased by 10,9% in twelve months.

In three years, the rate of homes equipped with solar panels has almost doubled: it stood at 3,26% at the end of June 2023[6]. Hello Watt also indicates that it recorded twice as many installation requests in June 2026 as in June 2025.

France remains behind its European neighbors

Despite this progress, France remains behind several European countries that committed earlier to the development of residential solar energy. According to data presented by Hello Watt, 58% of homes are equipped with solar panels in the Netherlands, compared to 39% in Belgium and 33% in Germany.

This ranking suggests that sunshine is not the only driver of residential photovoltaics. Hello Watt identifies the price of electricity as a determining factor[7]: the more expensive electricity drawn from the grid, the more economically attractive self-consumption of energy produced on-site becomes. Public subsidies and the maturity of national sectors also play a role.

In the Netherlands, the development of the residential market has been particularly favored by high electricity prices and a net billing mechanism[8]. This allows solar electricity fed into the grid to be deducted from the bill, as if it were compensating for consumption made at another time.

In Belgium, the cost of electricity, the high proportion of homeowners, and green certificate schemes[9] have supported household solar panel installation. Germany, for its part, has supported residential photovoltaics with guaranteed feed-in tariffs for surplus energy for twenty years.

In Italy, sunshine and government subsidies have triggered several waves of installations. In the UK, high electricity prices support the market, but the large proportion of renters and terraced houses limits the number of homes that can be easily equipped.

In Spain, 6,3% of homes are reportedly equipped

Spain has a dynamic photovoltaic market in the commercial and industrial sectors, but residential solar power remains less widespread. According to Hello Watt, 6,3% of Spanish homes are equipped with solar panels.

The company attributes this difference in particular to electricity prices that have long been lower than those observed in other European countries, as well as to a previously less favorable regulatory framework. Between 2015 and 2018, the "sun tax" imposed a contribution on self-consuming individuals intended to cover the costs of distribution and maintenance of the electricity grid[10]. The high proportion of households living in apartment buildings, estimated at 65%, constitutes another obstacle to individual equipment.

Despite enjoying more sunshine than the top-ranked countries, France has an installation rate almost ten times lower than the Netherlands. According to Hello Watt's analysis, this lag is due in particular to less generous subsidies than in the pioneering countries, the complexity of certain administrative procedures, and historically cheaper electricity, due to the significant role of nuclear power, until the 2022 energy crisis.

A zero-interest loan and reduced VAT for the batteries offered

The Lévy-Tuot report on optimizing public support for renewable electricity and storage , published in April 2026, makes two recommendations concerning residential photovoltaic installations.

The first measure involves making the purchase of solar panels with a maximum power output of 36 kVA eligible for a zero-interest loan, subject to income requirements, while maintaining investment aid. This possibility would also be extended to installations combining photovoltaic panels and batteries, up to a storage capacity of 100 kWh.

This mechanism would facilitate access to solar energy for households that lack the savings to finance their installation. The use of bank loans could also strengthen controls on the certifications and insurance of companies carrying out the work.

The second recommendation proposes applying a VAT rate of 5,5% to batteries with a maximum capacity of 100 kWh. According to Hello Watt, adding a battery to a solar project can currently result in a VAT rate of 20% being applied to the entire operation.

However, energy storage makes it possible to increase the proportion of electricity produced and consumed locally. Since October 1, 2025, residential photovoltaic installations with a capacity of 9 kWp or less can benefit from a reduced VAT rate of 5,5%, provided they meet several environmental criteria and integrate an energy management system, in accordance with the decree of September 8, 2025.

Extending the reduced rate to batteries would thus remove a tax obstacle to the joint development of self-consumption and residential storage.

[1] 1.242.435 installations with a power output of less than or equal to 36 kWp recorded by Enedis on June 30, 2026, compared to the number of individual houses in France (Insee, RP2023).

[2] 1.119.453 installations with a power output of less than or equal to 36 kWp recorded by Enedis on June 30, 2025, compared to the number of individual houses in France (Insee, RP2023).

[3] Enedis data on residential photovoltaic installations with a capacity of 36 kWp or less as of June 30, 2026, reported per detached house per department (Insee, RP2023). Full list in appendix.

[4] 1.242.435 installations with a power output of less than or equal to 36 kWp recorded by Enedis on June 30, 2026, compared to the number of individual houses in France (Insee, RP2023).

[5] 1.119.453 installations with a power output of less than or equal to 36 kWp recorded by Enedis on June 30, 2025, compared to the number of individual houses in France (Insee, RP2023).

[6] 674.635 installations with a power output of less than or equal to 36 kWp recorded by Enedis as of June 30, 2023.

[7] For further information, consult the European electricity price barometer published by Hello Watt.

[8] This system allows you to deduct from your bill the solar electricity injected into the network, as if it compensated for the electricity consumed at another time.

[9] Proposed in particular in Flanders and Wallonia, this system allowed individuals to resell their electricity to energy suppliers at a very attractive price.

[10] This scheme imposed a fee on individuals with self-consumption solar panels intended to cover the costs of electricity distribution and maintenance. Highly contested, it was abolished in October 2018.

Image illustrating the article via Depositphotos.com.