In 2025 the world added 800 gigawatts of renewables, a historic high according to the IEA
The report by the International Energy Agency records the highest volume of new renewable capacity ever installed in a year, with solar photovoltaic accounting for three-quarters of the total. A parallel estimate by IRENA, built with a different method, indicates a lower value.
What has improved. In 2025, renewable capacity added worldwide reached 800 gigawatts, the highest annual value ever recorded: this is indicated by the Global Energy Review 2026 from the International Energy Agency. Solar accounted for 75% of new installations. Cumulative photovoltaic capacity worldwide exceeded 2,800 gigawatts, becoming the technology with the greatest installed capacity globally. Wind grew by nearly 40% compared to the previous year, with about 160 gigawatts added, also a record.
A second figure concerns storage. Batteries installed in 2025 grew by about 40%, reaching nearly 110 gigawatts added in a year: more than the highest annual additions ever recorded by natural gas. This is the figure with the most direct technical implication, because storage is what allows solar energy to be used when there is no sun.
| Technology | 2025 additions |
|---|---|
| Renewables, total | 800 GW |
| of which solar | 75% of total |
| Wind | ~160 GW (+40%) |
| Battery storage | ~110 GW (+40%) |
For whom. The geographic distribution is far from uniform. China installed nearly 500 gigawatts of renewables, over 60% of global growth. The European Union added nearly 85, its highest value, of which about 70 were solar. Thirty countries exceeded one gigawatt of installed photovoltaic capacity in a year: nearly double compared to 2020, and this is the indicator that best describes the broadening of the phenomenon, because it measures how many national markets have reached an industrial scale rather than how much the two largest have built.
It must be stated precisely what these numbers do not say. They measure installed capacity, not electricity produced or emissions avoided: one photovoltaic gigawatt and one gas gigawatt do not produce the same amount of energy over the course of a year. The report, as available, does not provide the figure on actual generation nor on electricity access for populations lacking it. The benefit for people, in this data series, remains indirect.
How we know this. The source is the annual report by the International Energy Agency, an intergovernmental body independent of plant manufacturers, whose content is also cited in the summary by REGlobal. It is neither an industry press release nor an estimate from a producers’ association.
There is, however, a second measurement, and it must be reported because it diverges. IRENA, in its Renewable Capacity Statistics 2026, indicates 692 gigawatts added in 2025 and an overall global capacity of 5,149 gigawatts, according to data cited by Winss. The difference from the IEA’s 800 gigawatts depends on methodology: the two agencies do not count the same installations with the same criteria, and a direct comparison between the two figures is not admissible. Anyone citing a single number as “the” figure for 2025 is choosing a methodology without disclosing it.
The further limitation is temporal: both estimates refer to 2025 and were published in 2026, so they do not incorporate what happened in energy markets in subsequent months. The next verifiable check will be the following edition of the same report, which will show whether the 110 gigawatts of storage in 2025 was an isolated peak or the start of a series.
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