Malaysia's solar in 2026: where we stand and where we're heading

How much solar Malaysia has installed, how much of it sits on rooftops, and why the next ten years matter more than the last ten.

Solar has moved from a niche choice to a normal part of Malaysia's power system. Here are the numbers behind that shift, and what they mean if you are deciding whether to install.

How much solar Malaysia has

Malaysia's installed solar capacity reached 5,777 MW by the end of 2025, according to figures from the International Energy Agency's PV programme (IEA-PVPS). About 1,448 MW of that was added in 2025 alone.

Rooftops are doing as much of the work as solar farms. The government reported 3,254.61 MW of rooftop solar as of 30 April 2026, and industry estimates put the number of rooftop solar users at more than 96,000.

Capacity is not the same as generation

Renewable energy made up 31% of Malaysia's installed power capacity in December 2025 and nearly 32% by June 2026. The targets are 35% by 2030 and 70% by 2050.

Installed capacity is only half the picture. Solar panels generate during the day, so their share of the electricity actually produced is much smaller. Energy think tank Ember estimates that solar and wind supplied about 2% of Malaysia's electricity in 2025, with 79% still coming from fossil fuels. That gap is why the country is now adding battery storage alongside solar.

Where it is heading

Research firm GlobalData forecasts that Malaysia will reach about 7.3 GW of solar by the end of 2026, pass 10 GW in 2028, and reach 29.7 GW by 2035. That is roughly five times today's capacity in under ten years.