🔗 Share this article

This landmark achievement, the world’s solar and wind farms produced greater power than coal plants for the first time this year, signaling a pivotal moment for the worldwide energy system.

Clean Energy Surpass Electricity Demand

An in-depth study revealed that over the initial half of 2025, renewable energy exceeded the world’s growing appetite for electricity, causing a modest drop in coal and gas use.

Globally produced about 30% more solar power in the first half of the period relative to the same period in 2024, satisfying 83% of the global increase in power needs. Wind power expanded by approximately 7%, allowing renewables to replace fossil fuels for the first time.

“Solar and wind have expanded sufficiently rapidly to satisfy the world’s growing appetite for power,” noted an expert electricity analyst. This signifies the start of a transition where renewable energy is keeping pace with rising needs.”

Regional Impacts and Differences

China and India were largely responsible for the surge in renewables, as per the report, unlike the US and Europe, which depended more on fossil fuels.

• The Asian giant installed more renewable energy generation than the global total combined, leading to a 2% drop in its use of traditional energy in the first half of the period.
• The South Asian nation expanded its clean power by more than three times its electricity demand – being much lower in 2025 – leading to its coal and gas usage to drop by 3.1% and 34% each.

Conversely, demand for power in the United States exceeded its growing clean energy industry, causing a 17% increase in coal generation in the first half of the year.

In the EU, demand showed only modest increase relative to the initial six months of last year, but a climate-induced decline in hydro and wind power meant that even fast-rising solar energy was unable to stop fossil fuel production rising by 14% and 1.1% each.

Future Expansion and Developments

A separate report indicated that global clean energy could more than double by the end of the decade, with 80% of additional renewable capacity anticipated to come from solar power.

The expansion in worldwide clean energy installations in the coming years will be dominated by solar PV – but with wind, hydropower, bioenergy and geothermal each playing a part, as well,” commented an influential power authority.

The analysis highlighted that China would continue to be the largest global growth market for renewables, with India emerging as the next biggest over the rest of the decade.

“In addition to expansion across established markets, solar is poised to surge in nations such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and several south-east Asian countries,” the expert noted.