In 2007, nearly two decades ago, I wrote an article called “The Future Is Solar.” At the time, my argument was largely based on efficiency. I had been comparing biofuels with direct solar energy and noted how much more effectively solar panels could capture the sun’s energy than crops could convert it into liquid fuel. Solar was still expensive, storage was a major challenge, and the world’s energy infrastructure was built around fossil fuels. But the direction seemed clear.
It has been a long time coming, but the numbers now make it increasingly difficult to argue that the solar future is still some distant prospect. It is arriving in real time.
The latest Statistical Review of World Energy shows just how dramatically the renewable landscape has changed. Solar generation surged again in 2025 and, for the first time, surpassed wind as a source of global electricity. Hydropower remains the largest renewable source overall, but solar is now the fastest-growing major component of the world’s renewable power supply.
Renewables Reach One-Third Of Global Electricity
Worldwide electricity generation reached about 32,202 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2025. Hydroelectricity, wind, solar, and other renewable sources combined generated approximately 10,749 TWh.
That means renewables supplied about 33.4% of global electricity.
Hydroelectric power remained the largest contributor at 4,479 TWh, accounting for 13.9% of worldwide electricity generation. Solar reached 2,811 TWh, or 8.7% of the global total, while wind generated 2,714 TWh, or 8.4%. Geothermal, biomass, and other renewable sources contributed another 745 TWh, representing 2.3%.
The bigger story is the rate at which those numbers are changing. Total renewable generation increased 9.1% in 2025. But virtually none of the major renewable categories grew at the same pace.
Solar generation jumped 30.1%. Wind increased 8.2%. Other renewables grew 2.8%, while hydroelectric generation edged up just 0.4%.
Perhaps the most striking milestone in the new data is that solar generated more electricity than wind for the first time.
As recently as 2015, global wind generation was more than three times solar generation. Wind produced 832 TWh that year compared with just 257 TWh from solar.
A decade later, wind generation had more than tripled to 2,714 TWh. But solar output increased almost elevenfold, reaching 2,811 TWh.
Solar’s acceleration has been especially dramatic over the past several years. It generated just 1,061 TWh in 2022. Three years later, output was more than 2.6 times that level.
