Renewable energy sources exceed coal as the largest electricity source in the world

Renewable energy, including nuclear energy, has crossed joint coal as a main source of electricity in the world in the first half of this year – the first date, according to new data from Global Energy Think Ember.

The demand for electricity is increasing all over the world, but the growth in solar energy and wind was so strong that it faced 100 % of the additional demand for electricity, so it even helps to push a slight decrease in the use of coal and gas.

However, Ember says the main addresses are to reduce a mixed global image.

Developing countries, especially China, have led clean energy fees, but the richer countries including the United States and the European Union have adopted more than before the fossil fuel that calms the planet to generate electricity.

Coal, the main contributor to global warming, was still the world’s largest power generation source in 2024, a position he occupied for more than 50 years, according to the International Energy Agency.

China is still in the path of clean energy growth, adding solar capacity and winds more than the rest of the world combined. This growth in the renewed generation in China enabled the high demand for electricity and helped reduce fossil fuels by 2 %.

India has witnessed a slower growth in electricity demand and also added solar energy and large winds, which means that it also retracts coal and gas.

On the other hand, developed countries like the United States, as well as the European Union, saw the opposite direction.

In the United States, the demand for electricity grew faster than the production of clean energy, which increased dependence on fossil fuels, while in the European Union, months of wind and hydroelectric energy increased the generation of coal and gas.

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

“It represents the beginning of the transformation as clean energy is to keep pace with the growth of demand,” said Ember analyst, Malgorzata Wiatros-Motyka.

Solar energy gave the lion’s share of growth, and meeting 83 % of the increase in electricity demand. It has now become the largest source of new electricity in the world for a period of three years in a row.

Most of the solar generation (58 %) is now in low -income countries, many of which have seen explosive growth in recent years.

This is thanks to the amazing cost cuts. Solar has seen that prices have decreased by 99.9 % since 1975 and are now very cheap so that large solar energy markets can appear in a country in one year, especially when electricity is expensive and unreliable network.

Pakistan, for example, imported from imported solar panels capable of generating 17 GW (GW) of solar energy in 2024, doubled in the previous year and equivalent to nearly a third of the current power generation capacity in the country.

Africa is also witnessing a solar boom with 60 % high imports on an annual basis, in the year to June. South Africa led coal, while Nigeria exceeded Egypt second with 1.7 GB of solar energy – this is sufficient to meet the demand for electricity about 1.8 million homes in Europe.

Some smaller African countries have seen more rapidly growing with Algeria’s 33 times increasing, and Zambia is eight times and Botswana seven times.

In some countries, the growth of solar energy was very fast, creating unexpected challenges.

In Afghanistan, the wide use of solar powered water pumps reduces the water level, threatening access to groundwater in the long term. A study by Dr. David Mansfield and the satellite database Alcis It warns that some areas may dry out within five to ten years, exposing millions of livelihoods.

Adyer Turner, Chairman of the UK Energy Transport Committee, says that the countries of the global “sun belt” and “Wind belt” are facing completely different energy challenges.

Solar belt countries – including many Asia, Africa and Latin America – need large amounts of electricity to air conditioning during the day. These countries can significantly reduce the energy costs almost immediately by adopting solar energy -based systems, with the support of impressive, affordable batteries that store energy from day to day.

Wind belt countries, like the UK, are facing strict obstacles. The costs of wind turbines have not decreased anything like solar panels – below only a third or so in the past decade. It also added interest rates to borrowing costs and raised the total price of wind plantations significantly in the past few years.

The show budget is also more difficult: the winter winds can continue for weeks, which requires reserve energy sources that the batteries cannot provide alone – making the system more expensive for construction and operation.

But wherever you are in the world, China’s overwhelming domination in clean technology industries is still without a challenge, which is another new data from EMber offers.

In August 2025, clean technology exports reached a record worth $ 20 billion, driven by the increasing electric car sales (26 % increase) and batteries (an increase of 23 %). Together, cars and electrical batteries in China now deserve more than twice the value of solar panels exports.