Global Electricity Insights

The global electricity sector has transitioned from fossil-fuelled growth to clean growth, with clean power meeting all global demand growth in 2025. This shift is driven largely by the plateauing of fossil generation in China and the rapid scale-up of solar and wind power. Battery storage is now emerging as a critical technology to displace fossil fuels during non-daylight hours, particularly in high-solar regions.

• In 2025, the global electricity sector reached a turning point where clean power met all growth in electricity demand for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic, with solar alone providing 75% of this increase.
• China's reduction in fossil output in 2025 removed the primary global driver of fossil growth, leading to a global plateau in fossil generation. Outside of China, aggregate fossil generation has not increased since 2018.
• India is expected to follow a less coal-reliant growth path than China due to a more favourable cost environment and a less energy-intensive economy. In 2025, India's solar and wind deployment per capita was more than five times higher than China's was at a similar GDP per capita level.
• Many countries with the highest potential for solar energy but continued fossil growth are seeing an emerging solar rollout. For example, solar panel exports from China to Africa increased by 48% in 2025, with significant import increases in Egypt and Algeria.
• The expansion of clean electricity is enabling the decarbonisation of other sectors. In 2025, the global electric vehicle (EV) fleet displaced 1.8 million barrels per day of oil demand, avoiding approximately 80 million tonnes of CO2e emissions annually.
• Battery storage is becoming a mainstream solution to shift solar energy to non-daylight hours. In 2025, battery pack prices for stationary storage fell 45% from 2024 to a record low of USD 70/kWh, and global capacity additions reached an estimated 250 GWh.
• In specific markets, batteries are already significantly impacting power systems. In Australia, batteries set evening peak prices 36% of the time in Q4-2025, reducing wholesale prices by 44% compared to Q4-2024. In Chile, batteries helped avoid 2 TWh of potential renewables curtailment in 2025.

APA

Ember (2026). Global Electricity Insights. https://ember-energy.org/chapter/global-electricity-insights/

Chicago

Ember. Global Electricity Insights. 2026. https://ember-energy.org/chapter/global-electricity-insights/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Ember |title=Global Electricity Insights |date=21 April 2026 |url=https://ember-energy.org/chapter/global-electricity-insights/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ember2026global, author = {{Ember}}, title = {{Global Electricity Insights}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2026}, month = apr, url = {https://ember-energy.org/chapter/global-electricity-insights/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }