Record 814 GW of Wind and Solar Added Globally in 2025 — Reshaping Energy at Unprecedented Speed

The world just smashed through another clean energy milestone. According to data from the global energy think tank Ember, 814 gigawatts of new solar and wind capacity came online in 2025 — a 17 percent increase from 2024 and a new all-time record that underscores the accelerating pace of the energy transition.

To put that number in perspective, 814 GW is roughly equivalent to the total installed power generation capacity of the entire European Union. The world added that much clean energy capacity in a single year. Solar power led the charge, accounting for the majority of new installations, while wind power also saw substantial growth, particularly offshore wind projects in Europe and Asia.

“According to data from the global energy think tank Ember, 814 gigawatts of new solar and wind capacity came online in 2025 — a 17 percent increase from 2024 and a new all-time record that underscores the accelerating pace of the energy transition.”

In the United States, wind and solar together generated a record 17 percent of all electricity in 2025, producing 760,000 gigawatt-hours — 88,000 GWh more than the previous year. This growth came even as natural gas remained the largest single source of electricity, illustrating how renewables are steadily eating into fossil fuels' market share.

The cost story continues to be remarkable. Solar panel prices fell again in 2025, making solar the cheapest source of new electricity in most parts of the world. In many regions, building new solar is now cheaper than continuing to operate existing coal or gas plants. This economic advantage, rather than government mandates alone, is increasingly driving adoption.

China remained the dominant force in renewable deployment, installing more solar capacity than the rest of the world combined. But the growth was genuinely global: India, Brazil, and African nations all saw significant increases in renewable installations. In developing nations, solar power is often the fastest and most affordable way to bring electricity to communities that have never had it.

The implications for climate change are significant. Each gigawatt of renewable capacity displaces fossil fuel generation, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. At the current rate of deployment, renewables are on track to become the world's largest source of electricity before the end of this decade — a transformation that seemed impossibly ambitious just ten years ago.

Energy storage technology is keeping pace. Battery costs continued to fall in 2025, and grid-scale storage installations set their own records, addressing the intermittency challenge that has long been cited as a barrier to renewable adoption.