Global renewable energy capacity reached a record 5,149 gigawatts at the end of 2025, an increase of 692 GW compared to 2024, bringing the share of renewables in global electricity capacity to 49.4% in 2025, up from 46.3% the previous year. For the first time since industrialization, renewable energies rival fossil fuels in installed capacity.

This historic parity was not expected by any analyst so soon. The most optimistic projections anticipated this shift around 2027. Yet, electricity production from renewable energies surpassed that from fossil fuels during the first half of 2025, accounting for 5,072 TWh against 4,896 TWh from fossil energy. Even more telling: these figures far exceed the growth of 116 GW in production capacity from fossil fuels, confirming that humanity is now building six times more clean energy than dirty energy.

The shift goes unnoticed because it is measured in installed capacity, not actual production. The gap between the two concentrates the real challenges: intermittency, grid stability, redistribution of geopolitical energy power.

The Economic Logic Has Shifted Quietly

The cost of electricity produced by more than 90% of new renewable energies worldwide is lower than the cost of the cheapest new fossil fuel. Renewables conquered their dominant position through price, before states even realized it.

Solar led the bulk of growth, with 511 GW added in 2025 to reach 2,392 GW, confirming its position as the world’s leading renewable source. Solar alone covered 83% of the increase in electricity demand. Wind follows with 159 GW of new installations, bringing total installed capacity to 1,291 GW.

The energy landscape is moving faster than public policy can regulate it. In 2023, the clean energy sector contributed 10% to global GDP growth. In India, 5%. In the United States, 6%. In China – one of the leaders in the energy transition – 20%. And in the European Union, nearly 33%.

692 Gigawatts Added in 2025: The Chinese Acceleration

Global renewable energy capacity reached a record 5,149 gigawatts at the end of 2025, an increase of 692 GW compared to 2024. A 15.5% increase in one year exceeds all sectoral projections.

China installed 311 GW of solar and 119 GW of wind in 2025, historic records. With 1,200 GW of solar and 640 GW of wind combined, these two technologies now exceed China’s thermal capacity (1,500 GW) by 340 GW.

Chinese dominance is reshaping geopolitical balances. China controls 44% of global solar and wind capacity, more than the European Union, the United States, and India combined. Renewables now represent 47.3% of China’s electricity mix, a progression accelerating despite the simultaneous addition of 93 GW of fossil capacity.

India is following a similar but delayed trajectory. The subcontinent multiplied its renewable additions by 60% in 2025, with 50 GW of solar and over 6 GW of wind. Indian wind capacity nearly doubled, rising from 3.4 GW to 6.3 GW installed in one year.

The Parity Paradox: Capacity versus Production

Reaching 49% renewable capacity does not mean producing 49% renewable electricity. Overall, renewables provided 34% of global electricity. The gap reveals the limitations of the capacity factor.

Coal – whose combustion emits very significant quantities of CO2 – remains by far the world’s primary source of electricity (34.4% in 2024), while gas supplies 21%. Fossil fuels remain essential to compensate for intermittency.

The challenge of intermittency demands costly solutions. Current batteries provide only 2 to 4 hours of storage, insufficient to compensate for several days without wind or sun. Variability creates the “duck curve” phenomenon, where renewable production drops sharply in the evening when demand increases.

Europe and the United States: Moderate Growth but Qualitative Transformation

Wind and solar exceeded fossil fuels in the European Union in 2025. The continent adds 19.1 GW of wind (+16%), surpassing 300 GW of total capacity.

The European transition is accompanied by technical innovations. Smart inverters dynamically regulate production according to grid conditions, controlling frequency and voltage while preventing islanding. These “grid-forming” technologies allow renewables to stabilize the grid instead of destabilizing it.

The United States installed 4.9 GW of wind, 25.6 GW of centralized solar, and 5.5 GW of distributed solar in 2025. But growth remains below climate ambitions. G7 countries are stagnating around 520 GW in their wind and solar pipelines since 2023, despite IRENA’s calls to double their annual installations by 2030.

Storage and Grid Stability Challenges

The growth of storage accompanies the solar boom: battery costs fell 45% in 2025 while installed capacity jumped 46%. Enough batteries were added to shift 14% of noon solar production to other hours.

Battery storage is changing energy economics. IRESS systems (Integrated Renewable Energy Storage Systems) integrate renewable production and storage to maximize efficiency and minimize grid dependence. Excess production is stored during peak generation periods and released when demand increases, stabilizing supply and strengthening resilience.

Yet technical challenges persist. The Spanish electrical outage in April 2025 underscores the importance of grid stability with massive deployment of intermittent energies. Atypical voltage oscillations, with notable frequency variations, caused cascading disconnections including renewable power plants.

Shifting Energy Geopolitics

Parity redefines international power dynamics. “The crisis in the Middle East has, in a certain way, clearly confirmed that energy security is not something we can be sure of with fossil fuels,” emphasizes Francesco La Camera, director general of IRENA.

Fossil fuels now constitute the greatest threat to energy security. They leave economies and populations at the mercy of price variations, supply disruptions, and geopolitical turbulence.

The transition follows different rhythms across regions. Africa records its strongest increase with +15.9% (11.3 GW), led by Ethiopia, South Africa, and Egypt. The Middle East experiences its strongest annual growth (+28.9%), driven by Saudi Arabia.

The COP28 Target Challenge

Renewable energy sector groups declared last year that achieving the target by 2030 would require annual growth of 16.6% between 2025 and 2030. Despite these records, the COP28 objective of tripling renewables to 11 TW by 2030 remains out of reach. With 5.15 TW at the end of 2025, 5.85 TW still needs to be installed in five years.

IRENA calculates that nearly 1,100 GW annually must be installed through 2030, more than double the 2025 record. Investments must surge from $570 billion in 2023 to $1,550 billion on average between 2024 and 2030.

Tripling requires systemic acceleration. Fossil fuels benefit from consumption subsidies nine times greater than renewables globally. While fossil subsidies reached $1.3 trillion in 2022, G20 members distributed $1.4 trillion in public funds to fossil fuels, directly contradicting the COP28 commitment.

2025 thus marks a paradoxical turning point: renewable parity is achieved in installed capacity, but no one expected this shift to occur so quietly. Humanity now produces as much clean energy as fossil energy, silently transforming the global energy equation while political debates still focus on future transitions.