In the first nine months of this year, global solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation reached 2109.76 TWh, exceeding the total solar power generation for the entire year of 2024.
This data comes from the "Third Quarter Global Electricity Report" released today by the think tank Ember Climate. In the first nine months of this year, global solar power generation increased by 498 TWh compared to the same period in 2024, a growth rate of 31%, while wind power generation increased by 137 TWh during the same period. The report also points out that the 31% growth in solar power generation in the first nine months of this year is an improvement over the 29% growth in the same period of 2024, and predicts that by the end of 2025, the annual growth rate of solar power generation will reach 640 TWh.
This growth has driven the share of solar PV in the global electricity mix to rise from 15.2% in the first three quarters of 2024 to 17.6% in the same period of 2025, while the share of all renewable energy sources increased from 32.5% to 34.2%.
Overall, "low-carbon energy," including all renewable energy sources and nuclear power, accounted for 43% of global electricity generation in the first nine months of this year, up from 41.3% in the previous year. Crucially, compared to the previous year, China's fossil fuel power generation decreased by 52 TWh, indicating that even in the world's largest industrial nation, the energy structure is transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
From January to September this year, the overall growth in wind and solar photovoltaic power generation exceeded the growth in global electricity demand. The report authors believe this suggests that solar photovoltaic and wind power are poised to become the main forces in meeting future global electricity demand.
“Solar power generation is projected to reach a record high in 2025, while fossil fuel power generation is stagnating, indicating that clean energy has become a driving force in the power industry,” said Nicolas Fulghum, senior data analyst at Ember. “Fossil fuel power generation, once a growth area, now appears to be stagnating and will gradually decline.”
“As the largest source of fossil fuel growth, China has achieved a turnaround, demonstrating that relying on fossil fuels to meet growing electricity demand is no longer necessary.” The Ember report states that in the first nine months of 2025, fossil fuel power generation decreased by 17 TWh, a year-on-year decline of 0.1%, and projects no growth in fossil fuel power generation for the entire year of 2025. This would end the trend of continuous annual growth in fossil fuel power generation since 2021, and mark the fourth consecutive year since 2000 that fossil fuel power generation has not increased year-on-year.
Compared to the report released yesterday by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the Ember report is more optimistic about the clean energy transition. The IEA report points out that while increased energy demand will bring more opportunities to the renewable energy industry, various scenarios indicate that oil will remain a key component of the global energy mix.
