Germany remains at the forefront of wind and solar

02.04.2026

Source: E & M powernews

The expansion of renewable energies is growing strongly worldwide. Germany ranks third for wind, fourth for solar and fifth for bioenergy, according to the energy agency "IRENA".

Global electricity generation capacity based on renewable energies increased by 691,900 MW last year. This corresponds to an increase of 15.5 percent to around 5.14 million MW. This means that 2025 was the largest expansion ever achieved in a single year. This is according to the "Renewable Capacity Statistics 2026", which has now been published by the International Renewable Energy Agency ("IRENA"), Abu Dhabi. According to the agency, China, the USA and the EU-27 accounted for 550,100 MW or 79.5 percent of all newly installed renewable energy capacity.

Solar installations achieved the greatest growth last year. Global solar capacity for electricity generation increased by 511,200 MW to around 2.4 million MW in 2025. That is an increase of 27.2 percent. The capacity of wind installations increased by 158,700 MW, or 14.0%, to around 1.3 million MW at the end of 2025. This means that solar and wind alone accounted for 96.8% of the additional capacity of renewable energy installations realized in 2025. Hydropower accounted for 2.7 percent and bioenergy for 0.5 percent of the increase in capacity. Geothermal energy accounted for 0.05 percent. Solar energy is the renewable energy technology with the largest electricity generation capacity worldwide - ahead of hydropower and wind energy.

By technology, the global capacity of renewable energy-based power generation plants at the end of 2025 was as follows

• Solar energy: 46.4 percent
• Hydropower: 25.2 percent
• Wind energy: 25.1 percent
• Bioenergy: 3.0 percent
• Geothermal and ocean energy: 0.3 percent

Since the end of 2010, global electricity generation capacity based on hydropower, wind, solar, bioenergy, geothermal and ocean energy has more than quadrupled. The capacity of wind power plants has increased more than sevenfold since the end of 2010. At the end of 2025, the global generation capacity of solar plants was 58 times greater than fifteen years previously. The capacity of hydropower plants (excluding pumped storage) has increased by 40 percent in the same period. The capacity of bioenergy plants has more than doubled. Geothermal energy increased by 57 percent. The capacity of plants based on marine energy was limited to 500 MW at the end of 2025 - despite doubling since 2010.

Greatest momentum in Central and South-East Asia

The capacity of renewable energy technologies for power generation has risen sharply in all regions of the world over the last fifteen years. The greatest momentum has been recorded in Central and Southeast Asia. This also applies to the development in 2025. Excluding Eurasia and the Middle East, Asia accounted for 74.2 percent of the increase in capacity in 2025. Europe accounted for 11.1 percent, North America for 6.1 percent, Central and South America for 3.1 percent, Oceania (Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific) for 0.9 percent, Eurasia (including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia and Turkey) for 1.2 percent, Africa for 1.6 percent and the Middle East for 1.8 percent.

China is not only the country with the world's highest energy and coal consumption. China also dominates global green electricity generation. At 440,100 MW, new installations in China accounted for 63.6% of the total global growth in electricity generation capacity based on renewable energies in 2025. This means that a total of around 2.3 million MW of renewable energy capacity was installed in China at the end of 2025. This corresponds to a 43.9% share of global capacity. The capacity of solar installations in China increased by 315,100 MW or 35.5% to 1.2 million MW in 2025. At 199,900 MW (as at the end of 2025), Germany has a 3.9% share of the globally installed renewable energy capacity for electricity generation.

The ranking of countries - measured by the amount of installed renewable energy capacity for electricity generation at the end of 2025 - is therefore as follows

• China: 2.3 million MW
• USA: 467,900 MW
• India: 250,500 MW
• Brazil: 228,200 MW
• Germany: 199,900 MW
• Japan: 134,500 MW
• Canada: 110,500 MW
• Spain: 98,600 MW
• France: 83,600 MW
• Italy: 78,300 MW

These ten countries therefore accounted for 76 percent of global renewable energy capacity for electricity generation.

China also leads the rankings for hydro, wind, solar and bioenergy when broken down by individual renewable energy technologies. Brazil, the USA, Canada, Russia, India, Norway, Turkey, Japan and France are ranked second to tenth for hydropower (excluding pumped storage).

Author: Hans-Wilhelm Schiffer