A landmark was passed in the IEA PVPS reporting countries during 2005 with the installation of over 1 GW of PV capacity during the year, which brought the total installed to 3,7 GW. As in recent years, by far the greatest proportion (85 %) was installed in Japan and Germany alone. Particularly with the recent levels of growth seen in IEA PVPS member countries, this reported installed capacity represents a significant proportion of worldwide PV capacity.

The annual rate of growth of cumulative installed capacity in the IEA PVPS countries remained fairly steady at an impressive 42 %, with Germany's cumulative installed capacity growing at 80 % (similar to the previous year) and Japan's growth rate also quite steady at 26 %. The corresponding figures for growth of the annual markets are 40 % for IEA PVPS countries, 75 % for Germany and 6 % for Japan. These growth rates have resulted in Germany now overtaking Japan with the highest level of installed capacity both in terms of total capacity and installed capacity per capita. An important factor behind the levels of growth experienced by these two countries in particular was the stable market support mechanisms that initially concentrated on residential grid-connected applications.