Solar growth helps clean power meet new power demand

Record solar growth last year helped ensure clean power sources grew fast enough to meet all new global electricity demand, according to new figures.

Data compiled by environmental think-tank Ember said 2025 was the first year since 2020 without an increase in electricity generation from fossil fuels and only the fifth year without a rise this century.

Solar power cemented its role as the dominant driver of change in the global power sector, with its record growth meeting three-quarters of the net rise in electricity demand in 2025. Solar’s rise was 18 times larger than that of gas, the only fossil fuel that increased in 2025. Global solar generation is now the same size as the total electricity demand of the EU.

In another global milestone, renewables overtook coal power in 2025. Solar, wind, hydropower and other renewable sources together contributed more than a third of global electricity generation for the first time in the modern power system. Conversely, the share of coal power fell below a third for the first time in history.