Renewables overtake coal as world’s biggest source of electricity

According to the new data of the global energy thinking tank EMBER, renewable energy, including nuclear energy, left coal behind the world’s leading electricity in the first half of this year; This is a historical first.

The electricity demand is increasing worldwide, but the sun and wind energy is so strong that it met 100 %of extra electricity demand, and even helped a slight decrease in the use of coal and gas.

However, the EMER says the headlines mask a mixed global painting.

In developing countries, especially China, pioneered clean energy, but richer countries such as the US and the EU relied more on fossil fuels that heat the planet for electricity generation than before.

According to the International Energy Agency, Coal, which made a significant contribution to global warming, was still the world’s largest individual energy production source in 2024 and has maintained its position for more than 50 years.

China continues to be ahead by far in clean energy growth by adding more solar and wind capacity than the total of the rest of the world. This enabled the growth of renewable energy production in China to leave the increasing demand for electricity and helped to reduce fossil fuel production by 2 %.

India experienced a slower growth in electricity demand and also added significant amount of new sun and wind capacity, which meant deduction in coal and gas.

On the other hand, developed countries such as the US and the EU saw the opposite tendency.

In the US, electricity demand has grown faster than clean energy production and increased dependence on fossil fuels, while weak wind and hydroelectric performance in the EU for months have led to an increase in coal and gas production.

Despite these regional differences, EMER describes this moment as a “important turning point”.

EMER Senior Analyst Malgorzata Wiatros-Motyka said that it “points to the beginning of a change in which clean energy keeps up with the increase of demand”.

Solar energy met 83 %of the increase in electricity demand and received a lion’s share in growth. It has been the world’s largest new source of electricity for three years.

Most solar energy production (58%) is now made in low -income countries, and most of these countries have seen explosive growth in recent years.

This happened thanks to the extraordinary decreases in cost. EMER says that solar prices have made a 99.9 %surprising decline since 1975, and now it is so cheap that large solar energy markets may emerge in a single year, especially in a country where network electricity is expensive and unreliable.

For example, in Pakistan, in 2024, 17 Gigawatt (GW) imported solar panels that could produce solar energy; This is twice the previous year, which is roughly equivalent to one third of the country’s current electricity generation capacity.

Africa is also experiencing a solar explosion with a 60 %increase in panel imports until June. While the coal -oriented South African is the leader, Nigeria ranked second in the second place, leaving Egypt behind with a 1.7 GW solar production capacity; This is enough to meet the electricity demand of approximately 1.8 million houses in Europe.

Some small African countries have achieved even faster growth with Algeria’s imports of 33 times, Zambia’s eight floors, and Botsvana seven times.

In some countries, the growth of solar energy is so fast that it creates unexpected difficulties.

The widespread use of solar -powered water pumps in Afghanistan reduces water levels and threatens long -term access to groundwater. A study conducted by Dr. David Mansfield and Satellite Data Company Alcis He warns that some regions can dry in five to ten years and that millions of livelihoods may be in danger.

Adair Turner, President of the United Kingdom Energy Transformations Commission, says that countries in the global “Sun Generation” and “Wind Belt” face very different energy problems.

Sun generation countries, including a large part of Asia, Africa and Latin America, need a large amount of electricity for daytime air conditioning. These countries can significantly reduce energy costs by adopting solar -based systems that store energy from day to night and are increasingly supported by more affordable batteries.

However, wind belt countries like England face more challenging obstacles. Wind turbine costs did not fall as much as solar panels; In the last decade, there has been a decrease in only one third. High interest rates also increased borrowing costs and significantly increased the total price of establishing wind power plants in the last few years.

It is also more difficult to balance the supply: the stagnation in winter winds can last for weeks, requiring reserve power supplies that batteries cannot provide alone, which makes the system’s construction and operating more expensive.

However, other new data from the EMER shows that the overwhelming domination of China in the clean technology industries of China is still unbearable, no matter where you are in the world.

In August 2025, clean technology exports reached a record of $ 20 billion due to increasing electric vehicle (26%increase) and battery (23%increase) sales. China’s electric vehicles and batteries now have more than twice the export of solar panel.