Solar Shines—Topping Wind for the First Time

Highlights from Ember’s Global Electricity Review of 2025

Spain’s Andesol Power Station. Wikimedia

Global energy think tank Ember’s latest global electricity analysis finds that 2025 marked a historic clean-power turning point: Solar generated more electricity than wind for the first time, while renewables collectively overtook coal as the world’s largest source of electricity.  

Key Data Points:

• Solar grew 30% in 2025, the largest annual increase ever recorded for a single electricity source.

• Solar added 636 TWh (terawatt-hours) of generation, surpassing the previous record solar increase of 479 TWh set in 2024. 

• Wind added 205 TWh, growing 8.2% in 2025, making it the second-largest source of new generation after solar. 

• Solar reached 2,778 TWh globally, just ahead of wind’s 2,715 TWh, marking the first year solar topped wind power generation. 

• Solar and wind together met 99% of new global electricity demand growth in 2025, sharply limiting the need for additional fossil fuel generation. 

• Renewables generated 10,730 TWh, reaching 33.8% of the global electricity mix and overtaking coal for the first time. 

• Coal fell below one-third of global electricity generation, while renewables moved ahead as the world’s largest electricity source. 

• Fossil fuel generation declined by 0.2%, suggesting that clean power growth may now be strong enough to begin pushing fossil electricity into structural decline. 

Why It Matters:

Ember’s data suggest that solar is no longer just the fastest-growing energy source—it could become the central driver of global electricity growth. The fact that solar overtook wind, renewables overtook coal, and fossil generation slipped in the same year makes 2025 a potential landmark in the clean-energy transition.