Solar revolution: Renewable sources have dethroned coal as the world’s main source of electricity

Solar energy as the main movementč growth

According to a new report by the energy think-tank Ember, the production of electricity from coal fell to 33 percent, while renewable sources recorded stable growth and reached a share of 33.8 percent. Movement keysč Among these changes is a drastic drop in technology costs, with the cost of solar photovoltaic technology falling by more than 80 percent in the last decade.

Almost all of the increase in demand for electricity last year, as much as 99 percent, was covered by wind and solar energy. Solar energy alone accounted for most of that growth, i.e. 75 percent. The International Energy Agency (IEA) confirmed in its report that “the absolute increase in the production of solar photovoltaic energy in 2025 is the largest ever recorded for any source”. This is the first time in history that the decline in the use of coal was caused by the transition to čsame energy, and not by economic crises or a pandemic.

The role of electric vehicles and batteries

The Embera report also singled out electric vehicles as a “structural driver of electricity demand growth,” which accounted for roughly eight percent of global demand growth last year. Sales of electric vehicles now make up more than 25 percent of the world car market.

The accelerated development of solar energy is increasingly taking place with the installation of energy storage systems in batteries, which enables a new paradigm: the transition from daily to all-day solar energy. Battery costs have fallen sharply in the past two years, by 20 percent in 2024 and up to 45 percent last year. As a result, the installation of battery systems increased by 46 percent, and the world installed enough capacity to divert 14 percent of the new solar energy produced in 2025 from the midday hours to the rest of the day.

Geographical differences and new challenges

The transition is mainly led by China and India. China alone has added more solar and wind farms than the rest of the world combined, enabling it to cut fossil fuel production by two percent. The European Union is also making progress, with a share of renewable sources of 47.3 percent in electricity production. It is interesting that Croatia ranks high and fourth in the EU with a share of 76 percent, primarily thanks to hydropower.

Despiteč positive news, a potential challenge appears on the horizon. Riječ is about the threat posed by the construction of data centers guided by artificial intelligence and their huge demand for energy. This danger is taken seriously, and in the US, the federal state of Maine recently passed laws that effectively prohibit the construction of large data centers in certain areas.