Global Electricity Review 2026
Ember21 Apr 2026cc-byRead the original
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Ember's annual review of global power data finds 2025 was the first year since 2020 in which fossil-fuel generation did not increase, slipping 38 TWh. Low-carbon generation rose 887 TWh against demand growth of 849 TWh, with solar alone covering roughly three-quarters of the net demand increase and solar plus wind together covering 99 percent. Solar output grew by a record 636 TWh to 2,778 TWh, a 30 percent annual gain and the fastest percentage growth in eight years, taking solar past wind for the first time. Renewables of all kinds reached 33.8 percent of global generation, or 10,730 TWh, overtaking coal at 33.0 percent and 10,476 TWh. Coal generation fell 63 TWh. China and India, long the main sources of growth in fossil power, both recorded declines. Battery costs dropped a further 45 percent after a 20 percent fall in 2024, and deployment rose 46 percent to about 250 GWh.
Extract
"Driven by record solar growth, low-carbon power generation increased by 887 TWh in 2025, outpacing electricity demand growth of 849 TWh. Solar power alone met 75% of the net increase in electricity demand. Together with wind, the two sources met almost all (99%) demand growth. For the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, and only the fifth time this century, fossil generation did not rise, recording a small fall of 38 TWh (-0.2%)." "Solar power increased by a record 636 TWh to reach 2,778 TWh in 2025, a 30% increase from 2024. Despite the much larger absolute additions, this was the highest percentage growth solar has recorded in eight years, continuing its exponential rise. Solar has been doubling roughly every three years, rising from 1,333 TWh in 2022. It has grown more than tenfold in the decade since 2015, when global solar generation was just 256 TWh. Solar overtook wind power for the first time globally in 2025 and drew close to nuclear power." "For the first time in 100 years, renewables (33.8%, 10,730 TWh) overtook coal power (33.0%, 10,476 TWh) in the global electricity mix as continued rapid growth in solar and wind pushed the share of renewables above a third of global generation. Coal power dropped 63 TWh (-0.6%) in 2025, marking the first fall since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020." "Battery costs fell sharply for the second consecutive year. In 2024, battery costs dropped 20%. In 2025, they fell a further 45%, while deployment grew 46% to an estimated 250 GWh."
Ember · cc-by · Read the original
The MyGreenSuit briefing
Commentary by MyGreenSuit, not the words of Ember.
Every outlet will lead with renewables passing coal. Fair enough — it is the first time in a century. But the number worth carrying into a meeting is the small one: fossil generation fell 38 TWh, about 0.2 percent. On a base above 30,000 TWh, that is flat, not falling.
What made 2025 different was not fossil retirement. It was that clean build finally outran demand growth — 887 TWh of new low-carbon generation against 849 TWh of new demand. Solar did roughly three quarters of that on its own. Which makes the achievement more fragile than a crossover headline suggests, because it holds only while annual demand growth stays somewhere near 850 TWh. It will not: the IEA already has 2026 demand growth running faster, and the new load is arriving in concentrated lumps rather than spread evenly across the grid.
So the thing to watch is not whether renewables stay ahead of coal. It is whether the annual clean-build number keeps pace with an annual demand number that is climbing. Ember release this under CC BY, so both series can be charted directly rather than taken on anyone's word.