Its that time of year again. EMBER has put out their report on Global electricity use.
ember-energy.org
I'm feeling a bit lazy, there is a nice video that runs through it:
The upshot is that total global fossil usage for electricity production fell last year, despite strong demand growth. While such drops have happened before, those were during the financial crisis and COVID, and due to demand drops. 2025 is the first year where renewable installations offset new demand in a 'normal year'.
Another stat... China and India both installed a chit ton of new solar, and (again in a normal demand growth year) that offset their coal use. The reduction in coal demand in those two countries was large enough to offset increases elsewhere... including Trump's little coal XO (tantrum) legally requiring that unprofitable coal plants in the US remain open. And leading coal plant owners to lose money and sue the govt.
IOW, global coal use FELL last year, due to leadership in China and India, while US coal use grew. So much for a long standing right wing talking point.
As the video discusses, this does not mean that global warming is 'over'. It is just a milestone in a growth curve and transformation that (if continuing to accelerate) gets the world closer to a sane level of emissions. We'll talk cheeseburgers later.
And everyone expects the current, ahem, oil shock, described by the IEA as the largest oil shock in history (dwarfing those in the 1970s) to accelerate these global green shifts in 2026 and beyond. Folks that were arguing that China had built too many solar and battery factories (more than they could possibly need)... they are not worried about that now. China will find a deep market for those products. A market we ceded long ago.
Also... there are deets in there that solar is shifting to 'Phase II'... solar and batteries. As multiple countries/regions reach the point where solar can meet daytime demand, lo and behold cheap batteries are here... and they are being rolled out quickly at scale. So (contrary to a solar nay-sayer canard) there is no sign that solar growth will plateau at this level... its full speed ahead.
I also went down memory lane, and found this old thread from 12 years ago:
where we discussed whether solar and renewables would ever be able to power the world.
There, we speculated that solar could grow to about 20% of electricity in the 2025-2030 timeframe... not too shabby. Wind and solar hit 17.3% of global electrical energy (not capacity) in 2025. Solar and wind each provided about half of that total (say 9% each), so solar still needs to more than double in the next 5 years. Global solar grew 40% from 2024 to 2025, so doubling in 5 years certainly seems within reach. Solar has already grown 20X since that old thread!
Global Electricity Review 2026 | Ember
Solar surge halts fossil generation rise as clean power meets all demand growth and renewables overtake coal
ember-energy.org
I'm feeling a bit lazy, there is a nice video that runs through it:
The upshot is that total global fossil usage for electricity production fell last year, despite strong demand growth. While such drops have happened before, those were during the financial crisis and COVID, and due to demand drops. 2025 is the first year where renewable installations offset new demand in a 'normal year'.
Another stat... China and India both installed a chit ton of new solar, and (again in a normal demand growth year) that offset their coal use. The reduction in coal demand in those two countries was large enough to offset increases elsewhere... including Trump's little coal XO (tantrum) legally requiring that unprofitable coal plants in the US remain open. And leading coal plant owners to lose money and sue the govt.
IOW, global coal use FELL last year, due to leadership in China and India, while US coal use grew. So much for a long standing right wing talking point.
As the video discusses, this does not mean that global warming is 'over'. It is just a milestone in a growth curve and transformation that (if continuing to accelerate) gets the world closer to a sane level of emissions. We'll talk cheeseburgers later.
And everyone expects the current, ahem, oil shock, described by the IEA as the largest oil shock in history (dwarfing those in the 1970s) to accelerate these global green shifts in 2026 and beyond. Folks that were arguing that China had built too many solar and battery factories (more than they could possibly need)... they are not worried about that now. China will find a deep market for those products. A market we ceded long ago.
Also... there are deets in there that solar is shifting to 'Phase II'... solar and batteries. As multiple countries/regions reach the point where solar can meet daytime demand, lo and behold cheap batteries are here... and they are being rolled out quickly at scale. So (contrary to a solar nay-sayer canard) there is no sign that solar growth will plateau at this level... its full speed ahead.
I also went down memory lane, and found this old thread from 12 years ago:
where we discussed whether solar and renewables would ever be able to power the world.
There, we speculated that solar could grow to about 20% of electricity in the 2025-2030 timeframe... not too shabby. Wind and solar hit 17.3% of global electrical energy (not capacity) in 2025. Solar and wind each provided about half of that total (say 9% each), so solar still needs to more than double in the next 5 years. Global solar grew 40% from 2024 to 2025, so doubling in 5 years certainly seems within reach. Solar has already grown 20X since that old thread!
Last edited:
