Solar companies raised over $11bn in corporate funding across 53 deals in the first quarter of 2026, alongside more than 18GW of project acquisitions.
Funding increased 131% year-on-year from $4.8bn across 39 deals in Q1 2025, Mercom Capital Group said.
It also rose 127% quarter-on-quarter from $4.9bn in 48 deals in Q4 2025, the company added.
Debt financing reached $8.9bn across 28 deals, up 154% year-on-year, while public market financing totalled $1.1bn across eight deals.
Global venture capital funding came to $1.1bn across 17 deals, down 21% year-on-year but up 74% from the previous quarter.
“Improved policy clarity and strong demand led to an increase in Solar funding and M&A activity in Q1 2026,” said Raj Prabhu, chief executive officer of Mercom Capital Group.
“Corporate funding was driven by larger transactions, particularly in debt financing, which reached its highest level in over a decade, while solar project acquisitions were at their highest capacity since 2022.”
A total of 28 solar corporate M&A transactions were recorded in Q1 2026, up 47% year-on-year and 33% quarter-on-quarter.
Solar downstream companies led M&A activity with 19 transactions, followed by three acquisitions each in balance of system and equipment categories.
Project developers and independent power producers led acquisitions with nearly 11.9GW, followed by investment firms and infrastructure funds with 3.8GW.
Other buyers secured 1.8GW, while a utility acquired an 830MW project, an oil and gas firm acquired 40MW, and a manufacturing company acquired 20MW.