Nicolas Fulghum
@nicolasfulghum
Senior Energy and Climate Data Analyst @emberenergy.bsky.social | Lead author of the Global Electricity Review | Finding, curating and explaining the data behind the global energy⚡️transition.
Wind and solar output has quadrupled in the last 10 years from under 50 TWh annually in 2015 to almost 200 TWh in 2025.
Texas is the #1 wind and solar growth state in the US Wind and solar met all the growth in electricity generation in Texas in the last decade, while gas replaced more expensive coal. Total electricity generation is up over 30% since 2015.
Wind and solar reached their record high shares despite April (and May) hitting new absolute electricity generation records for New Mexico as well.
20 years ago, almost all of New Mexico's electricity generation came from coal and gas. In April of this year, that share dropped to 31%. This was the lowest share ever recorded, as wind and solar surged to 69%. April 2006: 94% April 2016: 78% April 2026: 31%
California and Texas are the largest solar power producers in the US, but on a per capita basis, New Mexico and Nevada are far ahead. In Nevada, solar produced ~5,000 kWh per capita in 2025. That's enough to drive an electric car over 15,000 miles, more than the average American drives per year.
NEW | California just reached a world-first solar milestone Over HALF (51%) of electricity generation across the whole month of May came from solar power. Battery storage is the big difference maker, enabling California to push the share of solar generation to this level.
Solar produced a record 35.5% of Germany's electricity in June ☀️ That was more than all fossil fuels combined: Solar: 35.5% Fossil: 30.7% Other: 33.8% 10 years ago, solar reached a share of 11.6% in June, and has since tripled.
In June, EV exports from China reached over $10 billion for the first time. The value of monthly exports has more than doubled over the last 12 months. How many signs will the US, German etc. auto industry need? EVs aren't the future, they're the present.
June 2026 was the first month where solar generation reached a quarter of EU electricity generation. After a very sunny spring 2025, output in 2026 has now risen substantially above last year to continue the rapid year-on-year growth in solar output.
NEW | Solar generated a QUARTER of EU electricity in June 🇪🇺⚡️ Solar was also the single largest source of power generation (25%) ahead of nuclear (21%), gas (15%) and wind (14%). Five years ago, in 2021, solar was still at 10% in June.
Crucially, this is not coming at the expense of increased generation from other fossil fuels like coal. In fact, coal generation is down significantly over the last few years. April 2019: 19.3% April 2026: 12.4%
A clear indicator of where the future is going: Our Ember data for the OECD shows that wind and solar matched electricity generation from gas in April. A lot has changed in recent years: April 2019 to April 2026: - Gas: 28% → 26%⬇️ - Wind and solar: 13% → 26%⬆️
Solar's sharp rise continues. As of April 2026, global solar capacity now exceeds 3 terawatt. 1 gigawatt → 1 terawatt: 20+ years 1 terawatt → 2 terawatt: 33 months 2 terawatt → 3 terawatt: 19 months
It's the rise of renewable power generation that has picked up the difference in growing per capita demand and supply. While we're still far from a world without fossil fuels, as individuals, we've stopped using more of them (especially in the power sector).
An interesting dichotomy: Electricity generation from fossil fuels globally has risen by ~19% from 2012 to 2025. BUT It's been nearly unchanged on a per capita basis since then (+4%)...and that's despite overall per capita demand rising by 23% over that period.
At lunchtime yesterday, Texas solar and wind generation crossed over 50 GW output for the first time ever. Together, the two sources supplied nearly two-thirds of Texan power needs at that time.
California's electricity generation from gas in June so far is way down compared to previous years: -40% from 2025 -70% from 2021 Solar + battery storage are pushing gas out in the middle of the day and evening peak. A big step-up in wind generation is reducing gas further.
Another new battery output record yesterday in CAISO, hitting 12.62 GW Battery output during evening peak hours is now already more than half midday solar output. The sun shines at night in California's grid.
Solar just produced more electricity than coal in the US for the first month ever and it won't be the last... Over the last two decades, the role of coal and solar in the US mix has changed drastically May 2006: 🪨 48%, ☀️ 0% May 2016: 🪨 26%, ☀️ 2% May 2026: 🪨 12%, ☀️ 13%
On Thursday last week, Germany's solar hit a new all-time generation record of 68.7 GW! In 2026, solar has regularly been surpassing total system load. Batteries are a necessary next step to smooth out peaks, shave off evening prices and avoid curtailment.
May 2026 set a new all-time record for British solar generation. According to the latest NESO data, solar generated 2.8 TWh, beating the previous record set in a very sunny May 2025. Solar is now regularly meeting over a quarter of Britain's midday electricity needs.
Sunny Poland☀️🇵🇱 set a new all-time monthly high for solar in April of 2.7 TWh (+22% over April 2025) The highest solar generation is usually observed in May-August, so there might be more records to come.
Solar produced a record 14.4% of India's electricity in March 2026 🇮🇳 The share of solar generation is rapidly growing, despite rising overall demand, as solar's growth rate is much faster. March 2020: 5.6% March 2022: 6.6% March 2024: 9.7% March 2026: 14.4%
LATEST DATA | Solar power has overtaken coal power in Texas In the twelve months to March 2026, Texas solar (68.3 TWh) produced more electricity than coal (66.8 TWh). Just five years ago, coal was still more than 7x larger than solar.
In 2022 battery prices rose, prompting fears of an early end to the battery revolution. Three years of enormous cost declines and a deployment boom followed. Solar + storage is now not just feasible, but one of the cheapest sources of new power around the globe.
In March, wind and solar reached a new all-time high share in Texas of 45.6% March 2006: 1.9% March 2016: 17.5% March 2026: 45.6% 🏆 Gas (37.9%) recorded its lowest share since April 2022 Coal fell to the second lowest monthly share ever recorded (8.9%)
NEW | Wind and solar just produced more electricity than gas globally for the first month on record In April, they produced 531 TWh (22%), compared with 477 TWh (20%) for gas. Wind and solar generation has more than doubled in the last five years.
What does all that wind power mean for CAISO? Solar + wind + batteries are pushing gas out of the mix. On a windy day, gas is already down to single digit percentages. Here is May 14th.
SunZia, one of the world's largest wind power and transmission projects (3.5 GW), has started feeding power into California's CAISO. New wind generation records are now being broken every other day. The US should build on this clean energy leadership instead of abandoning it!
If there is one country that would currently benefit from battery storage deployment, it's Germany. - Solar regularly getting close to or exceeding load - System flexibility stretched - Stationary storage prices at record lows You'd think it's all set up for a battery boom?