Renewable energies exceed coal as the largest source of electricity in the world

Renewable energies have surpassed coal as the main source of electricity in the world in the first half of this year – a historic first, according to new data from the ESPE global energy reflection group.

The demand for electricity increases in the world, but the growth of solar energy and wind was so strong that it responded to 100% of the additional demand for electricity, which even contributes to a slight decrease in the use of coal and gas.

However, EMBER says that the headlines mask a mixed world image.

Developing countries, in particular China, have led to clean energy, but richer nations, including the United States and the EU, are based more than before on the planet’s fossil fuels for electricity production.

Coal, a major contributor to global warming, was still the largest individual source of energy production in the world in 2024, a position it has occupied for more than 50 years, according to the International Energy Agency.

China remains ahead of clean energy growth, adding more solar and wind capacity than the rest of the combined world. This allowed the growth of renewable production in China to exceed the increase in demand for electricity and has helped reduce its production of fossil fuels by 2%.

India has experienced slower electricity demand and has also added a new important solar and wind capacity, which means that it has too much reduced coal and gas.

On the other hand, nations developed like the United States, as well as the EU, have seen the opposite trend.

In the United States, the demand for electricity has developed more quickly than clean energy production, increasing dependence on fossil fuels, while in the EU, months of low wind and hydroelectric performance led to an increase in coal and gas production.

Despite these regional differences, Ember calls this moment a “crucial turning point”.

Ember’s main analyst, Malgorzata Wiatros-Motyka, said that he “marks the start of a change where the proper power follows the rate of demand growth”.

Solar energy has delivered the share of lion growth, meeting 83% of the increase in demand for electricity. He has now been the largest source of new electricity in the world for three years in a row.

Most solar productions (58%) are now in low -income countries, many of which have experienced explosive growth in recent years.

It is thanks to spectacular costs of costs. Solar energy has seen the prices fall by 99.9% since 1975 and is now so cheap that major solar energy markets can emerge in a country in the space of a single year, especially when network electricity is expensive and unreliable, explains EMBER.

Pakistan, for example, imported solar panels capable of generating 17 gigawatts (GW) of solar energy in 2024, double the previous year and the equivalent of approximately a third of the current electricity production capacity of the country.

Africa also experiences a solar boom with imports of panels up 60% over a year, the year to June. Heavy South Africa on coal has opened the way, while Nigeria exceeded Egypt in second place with 1.7 GW of solar generation capacity – this is enough to meet the demand for electricity of around 1.8 million houses in Europe.

Some smaller African nations have experienced even faster growth, Algeria increasing imports by 33 times, Zambia in Huitfild and Botswana Sevenfold.

In some countries, solar growth has been so rapid that it creates unexpected challenges.

In Afghanistan, generalized use of solar energy water pumps reduces water table, threatening long -term access to groundwater. A study by Dr. David Mansfield and the Database by Satellite Alcis warns that certain regions could be dry in the five to ten years, endangering millions of livelihoods.

Adair Turner, president of the UK energy transitions committee, says the countries of the global “solar belt” and “wind turn” are faced with very different energy challenges.

The nations of the solar belt – including a large part of Asia, Africa and Latin America – need large amounts of electricity for diurnal air conditioning. These countries can considerably reduce energy costs almost immediately by adopting solar systems, supported by increasingly affordable batteries that store energy from day to evening.

However, the countries of the wind belt like the United Kingdom are faced with more difficult obstacles. The costs of wind turbines have not fallen such as solar panels – down only a third in the last decade. Higher interest rates have also added to the costs of costs and increased the overall price of the considerably installation of wind farms in recent years.

The balancing offer is also more difficult: the lusts of the winter wind can last for weeks, requiring sources of emergency power that the batteries alone cannot provide – make the system more expensive to build and execute.

But wherever you are in the world, the overwhelming domination of China in the industries of own technology remains undisputed, other new EMPER data show.

In August 2025, its own technological exports reached a record of $ 20 billion, driven by the rise in sales of electric vehicles (up 26%) and batteries (up 23%). Together, China’s electric vehicles and electric batteries are now more than double the value of its solar panel exports.