The journal Science has named the advance of renewable energy as the breakthrough of the year after solar and wind power surpassed coal as a power source globally. In 2004, it took a full year to install 1 gigawatt of solar power capacity globally – today twice that amount goes online every day.
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The journal Science has named the growth of renewable energy as the 2025 scientific breakthrough of the year. The reasoning is based on renewable energy surpassing coal as a power source globally this year. Solar and wind power also grew fast enough to cover the entire increase in global electricity use from January to June, according to energy think tank Ember.
The shift is described as a transition from energy stored in fossil fuels hundreds of millions of years ago to energy streaming from the sun today.
China is the industrial engine behind the development. The country manufactures 80 percent of the world’s solar cells, 70 percent of wind turbines, and 70 percent of lithium batteries. Prices are lower than any competitor can match.
According to Li Shuo, director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute, China has mastered this thanks to the scale of its economy, its manufacturing capacity, and fierce competition at home.
As production increased, prices fell and demand rose. Production scaled up to meet demand, which pushed prices down further and created even more demand. The result was a positive spiral where renewable technology grew into an industry that now accounts for more than 10 percent of China’s economy.
The development is clearly illustrated by the installation rate of solar power. In 2004, it took the world a full year to install 1 gigawatt of solar power capacity. Today, twice that amount goes online every day.
China’s solar power production has increased more than 20-fold over the past decade. The country’s solar and wind farms now have enough capacity to power the entire United States. Solar panels cover deserts and the high Tibetan plateau. Wind turbines up to 300 meters tall stand along coastlines and on hilltops.
China’s exports of renewable technology are also transforming the rest of the world. Europe is a long-standing customer, but countries in the Global South are now also buying solar panels, batteries, and wind turbines at a rapid pace.
In Pakistan, imports of Chinese solar panels increased fivefold from 2022 to 2024 when the Ukraine war drove up natural gas prices. According to Lauri Myllyvirta, an analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, the choice was simple for people who worried about how to keep the lights on in their homes.
In Africa and South Asia, imports of solar panels have increased sharply as people realized that rooftop solar cells can cheaply power lights, mobile phones, and fans. South Africa has been driven by old and unreliable coal plants. Ethiopia has embraced solar and wind power.
Previously, renewable energy had an aura of virtue. Buyers paid more than for fossil energy due to climate concerns. Now the real driver is self-interest: lower cost and greater energy security.
Hannah Ritchie, a data scientist at the University of Oxford, notes that the long-awaited decline of fossil fuels is now within sight thanks to renewable energy. According to her, China is now just on the cusp of actually starting to push out coal.
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China approved 41.8 gigawatts of new coal power capacity during the first three quarters of this year, the lowest pace since 2021. Wind and solar power can now cover all of China's increased electricity demand. Expectations for coal power profitability have dropped, leading to fewer new plants.
Investments in carbon-free energy and transportation reached $75 billion in the third quarter of 2025, the highest quarterly figure ever. The full year 2025 is expected to exceed last year's total investment of $267 billion. Wind power investments rose 31% and reached the highest level since 2020.
Carbon dioxide emissions from US electricity production have decreased by approximately 40 percent since 2005. Solar and wind power now produce more electricity than coal and employ more American workers. This has prevented over one million asthma attacks and 60,000 premature deaths.
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