Global demand for electricity is growing rapidly. And in 2025, two critical milestones were passed. For the first time since 2020, all new worldwide demand for electricity was met from renewable sources.
And renewables accounted for more electricity generation than coal for the first time since the industrial revolution. As two of the biggest fossil fuel users – China and India – both reduced their fossil fuel generation, a century’s growth in fossil fuel generation ground to a halt.
This change is being driven by solar generation. Its output is now doubling every three years, and it has just outproduced nuclear. A decade ago, solar supplied only about 1% of the world’s electricity; in 2026 it is expected to reach roughly 10%.
First, solar has consistently outperformed forecasts. It is now the largest source of new electricity capacity worldwide, supplying three-quarters of the growth in global electricity demand in 2025. Institutions like the International Energy Agency (IEA) had underestimated both how fast deployment would happen, and how fast costs would decline.
Second, solar has become much cheaper: a panel costing £75 can generate electricity for decades with little ongoing input. Large-scale Chinese manufacturing, technological improvements, reduced use of materials such as silicon and silver, and a sharp fall in module prices during 2023–24 have all driven costs down. And once installed, the electricity is effectively free for more than 25 years.
Third, adoption is now global, not confined to wealthy countries. After China, the US is the second-largest installer despite tariffs and federal policy uncertainty, and in Australia, more than a third of households now have rooftop solar. In India, new solar has met 60% of the recent rise in power demand.
Fourth, solar is expanding fastest where conventional grids and fossil fuels are unreliable or expensive. In Pakistan, solar supplied less than 2% of electricity in 2019 but it now accounts for 24%, largely because households and businesses have bought cheap imported panels to escape costly grid power. Similar patterns are visible across parts of Africa, where ther eis no grid, and solar offers a cheaper alternative to diesel generators. Across Africa, around 100,000 solar panels are being installed each day.
Fifth, batteries are, at last, addressing solar’s central weakness: that it generates power only during daylight. Since 2023, battery costs have halved, and global deployment has grown to an estimated 250 GWh. As the ability grows to use daytime-generated electricity in the evening, solar-plus-storage becomes a realistic option. It is cheaper than new fossil fuel plants in sunny regions.
Finally, solar technology is diversifying, and innovations are opening opportunities in new locations, reducing conflicts over land use. They include plug-in “balcony solar”, which is spreading in Germany and now approved in the UK; agrivoltaics, which allow farming to continue under solar panels; floating solar; mirror-based systems; and perovskite panels and solar windows.
Meeting global climate goals calls for “electrifying everything”: replacing fossil fuels with electricity in transport, heating and industry. The IEA expects solar generation to double from 2025 levels by 2030, and to overtake hydro to become the world’s third-largest electricity source.
Although large new demands from electric vehicles, heat pumps and data centres need to be matched by flexible grids and storage, and there are certainly problems in some places, the global future looks promising.
In an uncertain, and sometimes worrying world, the solar story offers a small element of hope for the future.
Data in this article comes from Ember
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