WEMO 2025 (complet) - Flipbook - Page 12
W E M O 202 5
O U T LO O K
• Solar dominated the global renewable capacity increases:
While it is an impressive achievement, it is important to keep
in mind that capacity factors are very di昀昀erent for wind or
solar generation (around 23% for solar and 34% for wind59)
and dispatchable clean generation nuclear (around 90%).
Consequently, 1 GW of solar installed capacity, produces roughly
only 26% of the electricity generated by 1 GW of nuclear plants 60.
Solar and wind power account for 96.6% of these net renewable
additions. Solar photovoltaic (PV) led with 451.9 GW of new
capacity (77.3% of renewable growth), a 32.2% increase,
bringing total installed solar capacity to 1,865 GW. Wind
power added 113 GW (19.3% of renewable growth), up 11.1%,
reaching 1,133 GW, with onshore wind dominating (93% of
wind capacity) and o昀昀shore wind growing in selected regions.
50 GW of solar61 and 5 GW of wind, with total installed
capacities of 179 GW and 153 GW, respectively. The clean
energy generation represented 41.9% of the electricity
generation while fossil fuels share decreased at 58.1%62
The EU added 53 GW of solar and 17 GW of wind, with Germany,
Spain, and France leading, bringing regional totals to ~90 GW
(solar) and ~220 GW (wind). Consequently, the clean energy63
share (including nuclear) of electricity generation, amounted
to 71% as the fossil share declined to a historic low of 29%.
The intermittent nature of wind and solar generation led to
increased negative prices. This surge in negative price hours
combined with long grid connection queues, highlights
• While growing, wind development will not catch up with
solar: In 2024, new wind capacity additions signi昀椀cantly
trailed solar64. This gap stems from solar’s lower costs, and
faster installation time65. Wind faces challenges like longer
permitting processes, supply chain bottlenecks for turbine
components, and higher upfront costs, especially for o昀昀shore
projects. In the IEA Net Zero Roadmap, wind triples to reach
to 2,742 GW in 2030. Solar, by comparison, rises 昀椀ve-fold.
In addition, the Trump administration’s energy policy,
implemented in early 202566, signi昀椀cantly increases di昀케culties
for wind energy, particularly o昀昀shore wind67 (see below).
However, while wind installed capacity by 2030 should be less
than half of solar capacity, its electricity generation should
be only slightly lower, because the wind capacity factor is
higher than solar’s.68
WEMO 2025
China drove 64% of global additions, installing 277
GW of solar (up 45.2%) and 80 GW of wind (up 18%),
surpassing its 2030 targets early. The US added around
58https://www.weforum.org/stories/2025/04/
renewable-energy-transition-wind-solar-power-2024/
59https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/what-generation-capacity
60https://www.stout.com/en/insights/commentary/
understanding-capacity-factors-renewable-sources-fossil-fuels
61https://seia.org/news/report-solar-adds-more-new-capacity-to-the-grid-in-2024-than-anyenergy-technology-in-the-past-two62In absolute value fossil generation increased as gas rose almost three times more than coal fell
63https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/european-electricity-review-2025/
64https://www.irena.org/Publications/2025/Mar/Renewable-capacity-statistics-2025
renewables' grid integration challenges (see chapter on
electrical grids).
65https://about.bnef.com/insights/clean-energy/new-energy-outlook/
66https://www.woodmac.com/blogs/energy-pulse/questions-over-trump-plans-solar-wind/
67Capacity factors for offshore wind are higher than for onshore wind due to more consistent and
stronger winds at sea.
68https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/wind-targets-are-achievable-but-fall-short-of-atripling/#:~:text=In%20the%20IEA%20Net%20Zero%20Roadmap%2C%20wind%20triples%20
from%20901,hours%20per%20year%20than%20solar
11
Development of renewables58
