The International Energy Agency’s Global Energy Review 2026 confirms that 2025 was a record year for clean power. Global renewable capacity additions kept climbing, with solar PV accounting for almost all of the increase — about 510 GW of new capacity added in 2025.
China continued to drive the trend, commissioning nearly 370 GW of solar PV in 2025 (13% above 2024) and pushing total global renewable capacity past 5,100 GW by year-end, with solar alone near 2,400 GW. The European Union added a record ~85 GW of renewables, almost 70 GW of it solar, while the US added about 34 GW of solar.
The bigger picture: the IEA expects renewables to overtake coal as the world’s largest source of electricity by 2026 at the latest, with wind and solar together meeting more than 90% of the growth in global electricity demand. For homeowners and policymakers, the signal is that rooftop and utility solar are now the marginal default of new generation.
Source: IEA Global Energy Review 2026 and Carbon Brief.