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Renewable energy achieves historic milestone by surpassing coal in global electricity generation as solar experiences largest growth ever recorded for any energy source.
Renewable energy has finally overtaken coal as the world's primary source of electricity in 2025, marking a historic shift in global energy dynamics. As per Ember's latest global electricity review, renewable energy accounted for 33.8% of electricity generation compared to coal's 33%, owing to an unprecedented rise in solar production. It must be noted that this particular moment denotes the first time when the growth of clean power has caused a decrease in coal usage and not economic instability.
The progress in renewable energy has mainly been due to remarkable growth in solar production, which rose by 30% annually—a higher percentage increase than ever recorded from any other power source on Earth. In total, wind and solar accounted for nearly 99% of worldwide electricity growth in 2025, and 75% of growth was accounted for by solar alone. As stated in IEA's Global Energy Review 2026, "the absolute increase of solar PV generation in 2025 is the largest ever observed for any source."
In 2025, battery storage installations increased by 46%, falling in cost by 45%, which allowed for the ability to move energy collected from the sun during daylight hours to other times within renewable energy systems. Electric vehicles were considered a "structural driver" of electricity consumption, responsible for 8% of global electricity consumption growth, as electric vehicle sales exceeded 25% of total cars sold globally. The use of renewable energy storage, as well as electric vehicles, proves that interconnecting systems help advance the clean energy revolution.
Business Honor notes that while renewable energy has seen outstanding success, potential challenges lie ahead, particularly due to artificial intelligence and its growing energy demands for data centers.
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