• The journal Science has named the advance of renewable energy as the breakthrough of the year after solar and wind power surpassed coal as a power source globally.
• Solar and wind power grew fast enough to cover the entire increase in global electricity use during the first six months of the year.
• In 2004, it took a full year to install 1 gigawatt of solar power capacity globally – today twice that amount goes online every day.

Science explains the selection

The journal Science has named the growth of renewable energy as the 2025 scientific breakthrough of the year. The reasoning is based on renewable energy surpassing coal as a power source globally this year. Solar and wind power also grew fast enough to cover the entire increase in global electricity use from January to June, according to energy think tank Ember.

The shift is described as a transition from energy stored in fossil fuels hundreds of millions of years ago to energy streaming from the sun today.

China’s role in the transition

China is the industrial engine behind the development. The country manufactures 80 percent of the world’s solar cells, 70 percent of wind turbines, and 70 percent of lithium batteries. Prices are lower than any competitor can match.

According to Li Shuo, director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute, China has mastered this thanks to the scale of its economy, its manufacturing capacity, and fierce competition at home.

As production increased, prices fell and demand rose. Production scaled up to meet demand, which pushed prices down further and created even more demand. The result was a positive spiral where renewable technology grew into an industry that now accounts for more than 10 percent of China’s economy.

The pace has increased dramatically

The development is clearly illustrated by the installation rate of solar power. In 2004, it took the world a full year to install 1 gigawatt of solar power capacity. Today, twice that amount goes online every day.

China’s solar power production has increased more than 20-fold over the past decade. The country’s solar and wind farms now have enough capacity to power the entire United States. Solar panels cover deserts and the high Tibetan plateau. Wind turbines up to 300 meters tall stand along coastlines and on hilltops.

Global spread

China’s exports of renewable technology are also transforming the rest of the world. Europe is a long-standing customer, but countries in the Global South are now also buying solar panels, batteries, and wind turbines at a rapid pace.

In Pakistan, imports of Chinese solar panels increased fivefold from 2022 to 2024 when the Ukraine war drove up natural gas prices. According to Lauri Myllyvirta, an analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, the choice was simple for people who worried about how to keep the lights on in their homes.

In Africa and South Asia, imports of solar panels have increased sharply as people realized that rooftop solar cells can cheaply power lights, mobile phones, and fans. South Africa has been driven by old and unreliable coal plants. Ethiopia has embraced solar and wind power.

The motivation has changed

Previously, renewable energy had an aura of virtue. Buyers paid more than for fossil energy due to climate concerns. Now the real driver is self-interest: lower cost and greater energy security.

Hannah Ritchie, a data scientist at the University of Oxford, notes that the long-awaited decline of fossil fuels is now within sight thanks to renewable energy. According to her, China is now just on the cusp of actually starting to push out coal.

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