“172.7 GW by 2035” – What that number really means for solar operations

By Darren Lewis | 06-11-25

The headline jumped out at me: the UK is forecast to reach 172.7 GW of cumulative renewable power capacity by 2035, up from around 61 GW in 2024. 

That’s a compound annual growth rate of nearly 10%. Powerful stuff.

But here’s the thing — it’s not just the size of the number that matters. It’s what that number reveals about where our industry is going, and why operational thinking is about to become more important than installation.

What’s driving the leap?

It’s a mix of things:

• Offshore wind is set to surge (from 15.8 GW in 2024 to around 58.3 GW by 2035). 

• On-shore wind is also growing, thanks to changed planning rules (from 16.2 GW to 31.7 GW expected). 

• Solar PV isn’t sitting back either. Utility-scale, rooftop, community solar — it’s moving from ~20.2 GW now to 68.4 GW by 2035. 

• Storage, hybrid systems and circular economy bio-power are all getting bigger roles too.

So the story’s not just “more panels.” It’s “more infrastructure, more integration, more complexity”.

Why this matters for O&M and asset performance

For operators like us at Solar Group Utilities, the shift means three things:

1. Scale + complexity = risk if you don’t stay ahead

When you scale up to dozens of gigawatts and multiple technologies, the hidden faults and inefficiencies multiply. If every site is treated the same, or maintenance is reactive rather than predictive, you’re going to see under-performance creep in unnoticed.

2. Asset lifetime matters more than build speed

When the market was about installing fast, the focus was on cost and speed. Now the real value is in longevity, yield stability, lifecycle costs and reliability. That means our work is about making decisions like owners, not vendors.

3. Data and systems become central

You can’t treat each site in isolation. To manage 68 GW of solar (plus storage, wind, hybrids) means understanding how everything connects: site data, grid interaction, component health, supply chain lifespan. That’s why monitoring, analytics and proactive maintenance aren’t optional — they’re mission-critical.

What we’re doing about it

At SGU we’re building accordingly.

• We’re investing in site-specific condition monitoring and analytics so that when things go off-nominal, we spot them before they become six-figure losses.

• We engage in lifecycle-centric planning: we don’t just fix what’s broken, we ask what will break next and prepare for it.

• We work with biodiversity, vegetation, tracker alignment and other ‘soft’ systems that often get missed but matter a lot when scale and complexity grow.

In plain English

If the UK moves to 172.7GW of renewables by 2035, that’s not just a target — it’s a test. A test of how well we maintain, how smart we get, and how deliberately we manage performance.

Because when there are thousands of sites, multiple technologies, grid-connections, hybrids and ageing components… the difference between a good portfolio and a great one comes down to the operations team.

And that’s where SGU sits.

Because we care.