Report: China is building more solar power plants than the rest of the world combined.
The global energy transition has reached a pivotal point, with China setting new records in the construction of solar power plants.
According to the annual report issued by the British research center "Ember" entitled Global Electricity Review 2026, the year 2025 witnessed unprecedented growth in the solar energy sector, which became the main source of electricity generation on the planet, and was able to cover a record percentage of 75% of the total growth in global demand for electricity, according to what was reported by the Visual Capitalist website.
This surge has led to a unique phenomenon: a decline in global electricity production from fossil fuels , despite the continued steady growth of human energy consumption. According to data from Ember analysts, this is the first time in energy history that hydrocarbon- based electricity generation has decreased during an economic growth period, rather than due to a recession, pandemic, or economic stagnation.
China has become an absolute driver of green transformation. By 2025, the country had brought 336 terawatt-hours (TWh) of new solar capacity online. This figure exceeds the total output of all other regions of the world combined.
The annual increase in solar power generation in China alone was greater than all the electricity consumed by Britain throughout 2025 (322 terawatt-hours).
The rest of the world, excluding China, added approximately 300 TWh of solar power to the global grid. Asia ranked second in the rate of solar deployment (90 TWh), followed by North America (86 TWh) and Europe (80 TWh). The rapid expansion of clean energy in China and the resulting decrease in carbon generation (56 TWh) and in India (minus 52 TWh) offset the moderate growth in fossil fuel use in the United States and the European Union.
Overall, in 2025, humanity added approximately 636 TWh of solar power generation, surpassing the previous record set in 2024 (+479 TWh) by 33%. Solar energy retained its position as the fastest-growing energy source for the fourth consecutive year. Coal was the only sector to experience a larger absolute increase in recent history following the pandemic in 2021 (+719 TWh).
However, experts emphasize the fundamental difference: the coal boom was merely a temporary recovery in demand after the crisis, while the triumph of solar energy is a long-term structural change in the market structure.
However, Beijing's absolute dominance carries risks. China completely controls the global supply chains for photovoltaic cells, enabling it to reduce the cost of producing solar panels.
