Five years transformed global power generation fundamentally. In April 2026, wind and solar surpassed global gas generation for the first time, with 531 versus 477 terawatt-hours, according to the London-based energy institute Ember. Just five years earlier, the ratio was nearly reversed.
The April record in figures
The gap of 54 terawatt-hours equals roughly one-tenth of Germany's entire annual power consumption. Wind and solar covered 22 percent of global electricity generation in April, while gas plants accounted for 20 percent. Ember published the figures in its monthly electricity report in mid-May 2026.
Combined wind and solar generation worldwide grew 13 percent compared to April 2025. The UK led with 35 percent growth, driven by offshore wind expansion and accelerated retreat from gas imports. Chile raised its renewable generation by 24 percent, Australia by 17 percent. China, already by far the largest producer of solar and wind power, grew 14 percent. The European Union added 13 percent, the US 8 percent, Brazil 4 percent.
Why April matters
April is the month when conditions for wind and solar align favorably worldwide. On the northern hemisphere, where most installed solar and wind capacity concentrates, spring combines two advantages: sunlight hours rise sharply while winds remain strong. In high summer, this reverses, as heat dampens wind speeds and air conditioning demand spikes simultaneously.
Ember explicitly notes: wind and solar have beaten gas only in a single month, not on an annual basis. This qualification limits the significance of the milestone without negating it. In 2021, no energy analyst would have predicted this moment arriving by 2026.
Five years that reversed everything
In April 2021, the ratios were nearly mirrored. Gas generated 476 terawatt-hours, while wind and solar together produced 245 terawatt-hours. Since then, combined wind and solar generation has more than doubled while gas has stagnated at roughly the same level.
This asymmetry is the real signal behind the numbers. Gas plants were not dismantled, wind and solar expanded massively. Global solar generation grew 30 percent year-over-year in 2025 to 2,778 terawatt-hours. Together, wind and solar accounted for 99 percent of total global electricity demand growth in 2025 without gas plants producing a single watt more.
Similar milestones that once seemed distant lie already behind us. In 2025, renewables overtook coal for the first time in more than a century in the global power mix, with a share of 33.8 versus 33.0 percent. Within the European Union that same year, wind and solar surpassed all fossil fuels combined. The April 2026 record continues this trajectory and extends it to the global gas comparison.
What this means for gas prices
For consumers in Europe, this milestone carries indirect importance. Gas plants still often set prices on many European power markets, acting as the most expensive generation source called to the grid and therefore determining the marginal price. The more often wind and solar deliver sufficient power, the less often gas steps in as the price-setter, which pushes wholesale costs lower.
This does not mean gas plants become obsolete soon. They continue to supply firm capacity during wind and sun-scarce periods. The structural shift from earlier times: gas plants run increasingly rarely and for shorter periods, which squeezes profitability and makes new investments unattractive. In Britain, this mechanism has already led several planned gas plants in 2025 and 2026 to find no financing.
Until the annual milestone: probably 2028
Ember estimates that at current growth rates, wind and solar could reach the annual milestone—beating gas on yearly average—within two to three years, concretely around 2028 if the 13 percent annual growth rate holds and no structural brakes emerge.
The main constraint would be grid expansion bottlenecks, which lag capacity additions in many countries and cause delayed permitting for transmission lines. The International Energy Agency recently warned that without accelerated grid buildout through 2030, more than 3,000 gigawatts of newly installed renewable capacity globally could sit idle.
What April 2026 reveals: the global power system is shifting structurally, driven not by political decree but because wind and solar electricity now cost less than power from new gas plants in most markets. The first month when clean energy globally beat its fossil rival is the clearest proof to date that this turning point is no longer merely theoretical, but expressed in terawatt-hours.