The world just added a record amount of wind and solar in 2025, and it’s not even close.
New data from global energy think tank Ember shows that 814 gigawatts (GW) of new solar and wind capacity came online last year, up 17% from 2024’s 696 GW. That brings total global wind and solar capacity to 4,174 GW – or just over 4 terawatts.
That’s a massive buildout of the two fastest-growing sources of electricity in history, and solar is doing most of the heavy lifting.
Solar keeps pulling ahead
Solar made up the bulk of new additions in 2025. Globally, nearly 4 GW of solar was installed for every 1 GW of wind.
In total, 647 GW of new solar capacity was added in 2025, up from 582 GW in 2024 – an 11% year-over-year increase on top of an already strong year.
By the end of 2025, global solar capacity reached nearly 2,900 GW.
Wind rebounds
Wind is still playing catch-up, but it had a strong year.
Global wind installations jumped 47%, rising from 113 GW in 2024 to 167 GW in 2025. Total installed wind capacity reached around 1,300 GW by the end of the year.
Together, wind and solar are quickly becoming the backbone of the global power system.
Clean energy vs. gas price shocks
The new wind and solar capacity added in 2025 alone can generate around 1,046 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity each year.
That’s enough to displace more than one-seventh of global gas-fired power generation – or nearly double (1.8x) Qatar’s annual liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports.
At current prices, that avoided gas use translates to roughly $138 billion in annual import costs.
And that’s just from one year of new capacity.
Since the start of the US-Israel war with Iran, all the wind and solar already installed worldwide has avoided about 330 TWh of gas generation, saving more than $40 billion in potential fuel costs.
Kingsmill Bond, energy strategist at Ember, said, “The continuing escalation in the Middle East is a stark reminder of the risks of dependence on imported oil and gas. Solar, wind, and batteries give importers a genuine path to energy security, one that is cheaper, faster to deploy, and doesn’t come with geopolitical strings attached.”
Why it matters
Geopolitics still drives fossil fuel markets, and that volatility is hard to avoid if you rely on imports.
Solar, wind, and batteries offer a different path. They can be built quickly, they’re getting cheaper, and once they’re up, there’s no fuel cost.
Ember’s data shows that as deployments scale, these technologies are increasingly shielding countries from price spikes tied to global conflicts and supply shocks.
And at this pace, they’re not just supplementing the grid – they’re becoming the foundation of it.
Electrek’s Take
What’s striking here isn’t just the record – it’s the consistency. Solar keeps growing at double-digit rates on top of already massive volumes, while wind is rebounding strongly. That’s how a new energy system is built.
And the economics are becoming impossible to ignore. Avoiding $138 billion in gas imports from just one year of installations is a huge signal to policymakers and utilities.
Layer in geopolitical risk – from the Middle East to global gas markets – and the value of domestic, fuel-free power becomes even clearer.
At this pace, wind and solar aren’t just competing with fossil fuels. They’re steadily replacing them.
Read more: 43 GW: Solar tops new US power for the 5th year in a row
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