Capacity additions grew 17 percent from 696 gigawatts in 2024, according to the energy think tank Ember. Global installed solar and wind capacity reached 4.174 terawatts, over four terawatts, as reported in March 2026.
Solar's four-to-one advantage over wind
Solar dominated the additions, with nearly four gigawatts of new solar capacity for every gigawatt of wind capacity installed. Globally, 647 gigawatts of new solar capacity was added in 2025, up 11 percent from 582 gigawatts in 2024. Solar capacity reached nearly 2,900 gigawatts worldwide by year end. Wind capacity grew faster in relative terms: wind additions surged 47 percent from 113 to 167 gigawatts, bringing total installed wind capacity to around 1,300 gigawatts. The acceleration in global wind deployment reflects recent records for offshore wind installations, according to pv magazine.
In the European Union, photovoltaic capacity grew by 65 gigawatts in 2025, a 18.6 percent increase to 415 gigawatts total, down from a 25 percent jump the previous year. EU wind capacity increased 6 percent to 247 gigawatts, the same growth rate as 2024. Turkey saw solar capacity rise 24.3 percent to 25.1 gigawatts and wind capacity rise 14.7 percent to 14.8 gigawatts.
Per capita, the disparity is stark. Turkey had 286 watts of solar capacity per person by end-2025, the EU had 924 watts, and the global average was 349 watts. For wind power, Turkey had 168 watts per capita, the EU 549 watts, and the global average 158 watts.
Global impact potential
The 2025 additions alone could theoretically generate around 1,046 terawatt-hours of electricity annually, replacing over one-seventh of global gas-fired generation. At prevailing prices, that represents roughly 138 billion dollars in annual avoided gas import costs. This is a theoretical generation potential.
"The scale and pace of solar expansion is unprecedented in the electricity sector," said Ember data analyst Leonard Heberer. Together with accelerating wind deployment, these technologies are becoming the backbone of global electricity supply, he noted. Heberer added that continued expansion will strengthen energy independence, reduce dependence on fragile fossil fuel supply chains, and protect consumers from geopolitically driven price spikes in fossil fuels.
Ember's data comes from a dataset covering 25 countries and regions representing around 92 percent of global solar and 91 percent of global wind capacity. For countries without regular monthly reports, Ember estimates solar installations using Chinese export data with an assumed 85 percent implementation rate and six-month lag; wind values are extrapolated from reporting countries' growth patterns. Ember itself assumes the dataset understates the actual pace of global additions.