London, 20 March 2026 – According to new data from global energy think tank Ember, the world installed a record 814 GW of new solar and wind capacity in 2025, 17% more than in 2024 (696 GW).
The latest additions bring the combined global installed capacity of wind and solar to 4,174 GW (over 4 TW), highlighting the rapid expansion of the two fastest-growing sources of electricity in history.
Solar accounted for the majority of new capacity additions, with almost 4 GW of new solar added globally for every 1 GW of wind. 647 GW of solar capacity was added globally in 2025, up from 582 GW in 2024. This 11% year-on-year increase in 2025, following an already strong year in 2024, underscores that solar is playing an ever-larger role in the global power system. By the end of 2025, cumulative solar capacity had reached close to 2,900 GW.
Wind deployment, while lower than solar, saw a significant 47% increase, rising from 113 GW in 2024 to 167 GW in 2025. By the end of 2025, global installed wind capacity reached around 1,300 GW.
teddbe on March 29th, 2026 at 14:44 UTC »
1000 TWh, if only there was a word for that… great news overall, the future looks quite green
5minArgument on March 29th, 2026 at 14:26 UTC »
Huge shout out to China. While the west desperately tries to cling to the 20th century, they have built a future where the world can disconnect from fossil fuels.
The irony that long vilified as a global threat, Chinas tech and manufacturing prowess appears poised to literally save the world.
Sounds almost like hyperbolic propaganda, but in the case of global warming/climate change and increasingly exponential demands for power, this statement is true.
Tupcek on March 29th, 2026 at 14:26 UTC »
crazy that almost quarter of all solar panels on the planet were installed in last 12 months