Q3 Global Power Report

In the first three quarters of 2025, record solar and wind growth exceeded electricity demand increases, leading to a forecast of no fossil fuel growth for the full year—the first such occurrence since the Covid-19 pandemic.

• Solar and wind power growth exceeded the increase in global electricity demand during the first three quarters of 2025. Solar generation rose by 498 TWh (+31%) and wind by 137 TWh (+7.6%), totaling 635 TWh of growth, which surpassed the 603 TWh (+2.7%) increase in demand.
• Ember forecasts that fossil fuel generation in the global power sector will not increase in 2025, marking the first year without growth since the Covid-19 pandemic. This occurs despite 2025 being expected to see the sixth largest absolute increase in electricity demand ever, at 831 TWh.
• Solar power has become the primary driver of change in the global power system, with its Q1-Q3 2025 growth of 498 TWh already exceeding the total solar generation for the entire year of 2024.
• The share of the global electricity mix from solar and wind rose to 17.6% in Q1-Q3 2025, up from 15.2% in the same period of 2024. Total renewables reached a share of 34.2%, while fossil generation's share dropped from 58.7% to 57.1%.
• China and India both experienced declines in fossil generation in Q1-Q3 2025. China's decline is described as structural, with clean power meeting all new demand, while India's decline is likely temporary, driven by a renewables surge and unusually low demand due to milder weather.
• Global hydropower generation declined in the first three quarters of 2025 due to unfavorable conditions, with India being the only notable exception among larger power sectors.

APA

Fulghum, N. (2025). Q3 Global Power Report. Ember. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/11/Q3-global-power-report.pdf

Chicago

Fulghum, Nicolas. Q3 Global Power Report. Ember, 2025. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/11/Q3-global-power-report.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Fulghum |first1=Nicolas |title=Q3 Global Power Report |publisher=Ember |date=13 November 2025 |url=https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/11/Q3-global-power-report.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{fulghum2025global, author = {Fulghum, Nicolas}, title = {{Q3 Global Power Report}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2025}, month = nov, url = {https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/11/Q3-global-power-report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }