Solar Power Surges Around The World

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In the US, the so-called administration and several states are committed to shunning solar and wind power and burning more fossil fuels (while making the air unsafe to breathe for billions) in order to make electricity. They think it is smart to scour the Earth for new sources of oil and methane, build an enormous number of drilling rigs, and construct a huge complex of pipelines and refineries, primarily so the US can beat its breast like King Kong and proclaim it has energy dominance over the rest of the world. It’s really little more than a locker room game of “mine’s bigger than yours,” but there are huge profits to be made by a privileged few, like putative Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and so the game must go on. Why? Because, like heroin addicts, we can’t stop.

But while reactionaries all across America are getting out their pitchforks to oppose solar and wind power, renewables continue to grow, not only in Europe and China but in the US as well. Why? Call it Adam Smith’s unseen hand. Thanks to the wonders  of capitalism, humans who subscribe to its strictures invariably seek the cheapest way to do everything. When it comes to generating electricity, renewables are the cheapest by far and getting cheaper every day. That should come as no surprise, since the cost of “fuel” — sunlight — is zero. Not only that, while oil and gas reserves are finite, the sun will continue to do what it has always done for a few billion years more.

Solar & Wind Power Grows In China

“In the first quarter of 2025, China’s newly installed wind and photovoltaic power capacity totaled 74.33 million kilowatts, bringing the cumulative installed capacity to 1.482 billion kilowatts,” China’s National Energy Administration announced on April 25, 2025. That surpassed the installed capacity of thermal power — 1.451 billion kilowatts — for the first time in the country’s history. Chinese president Xi Jinping said last week that “no matter how the international situation changes,” China’s efforts to combat climate change “will not slow down.”

He also said China would announce its 2035 greenhouse gas reduction commitments, known as Nationally Determined Contributions, before the COP30 energy conference in November and that they would cover all greenhouse gases, not just carbon dioxide. Many like to slam China for continuing to build coal-fired generating stations while it is building out its solar and wind capacity, and there is merit to those concerns. Reuters reports that China started construction on almost 100 GW of new coal-fired power capacity in 2024.

But at least China has an established plan to reduce the amount of energy it gets from coal by the end of this decade and to lower its total emissions from power generation significantly by 2035. The US, on the other hand, has given the entire world the finger by withdrawing yet again from the Paris climate accords, which means it will no longer report its Nationally Determined Contributions at all. It is reasonable to assume the US will be a disruptive influence at the COP30 conference this fall as it continues to shill for fossil fuels.

Last year, China added a record 357 gigawatts of wind and solar, 10 times the US, according to France 24. By so doing, it met its goal to install a total of 1200 GW of solar and wind capacity 6 years ahead of schedule. “This trend is very likely to continue in the following months and quarters in 2025,” Yao Zhe, Global Policy adviser at Greenpeace East Asia, told AFP. That suggests China’s power sector is undergoing “structural change and the sector’s carbon emissions are one small step away from peaking,” he said. Demand for energy in China increased by 4.3 percent in 2024.

Solar And Wind Set New Records In Europe

According to Energy Monitor, Europe also set new records for solar and wind power in the first quarter of 2025. Based on statistics supplied by Ember, in the first three months of this year, solar energy generation totaled 68 TWh, an increase of 32 percent from Q1 in 2024. In April, which is not the sunniest month in Europe, solar power contributed 8.2 percent of Europe’s utility-supplied electricity — up from 6 percent the previous year. In 2024, renewable energy accounted for a record 61.3 percent of Europe’s electricity. However, the clean energy share dropped to 57 percent in the first quarter of 2025 due to lower wind speeds, which caused turbine output to fall by 15 percent from the previous year.

Historically, Germany and Spain dominate Europe’s solar capacity, but recent cost reductions and efficiency improvements have led to a more widespread adoption across the continent, Energy Monitor says. Turkey, the Netherlands, Poland, and Switzerland all saw significant increases in renewable energy in Q1 of 2025, while Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, and Spain each achieved solar electricity shares of more than 10 percent during that period. This summer, Greece, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain are expected to generate more than 25 percent of their electricity from solar, which could raise Europe’s average to nearly 14 perectnt. Italy, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Turkey are also projected to reach double-digit solar electricity shares as well.

The lesson here is that China may not be creating as much renewable energy as it could — or should — but it is a long way in front of the rest of the world.

Solar Continues To Shine In The US

Despite new headwinds at the national and state levels, Carbon Credits reports that the US is expected to add about 97 GW of new electricity capacity in 2025, due primarily to increases in solar power and energy storage. S&P Global Market Intelligence says that more than 59 GW of new solar and wind projects are planned for 2025, together with over 31 GW of energy storage. This means nearly 90 percent of new electricity projects this year will be tied to renewable energy and batteries.

Nearly 49 GW of solar power is in line to connect to the electric grid in the US this year. That’s enough to power more than 35 million homes for a year or 10 data centers. Texas is leading, with more than 12 GW of planned solar capacity expected to be added. 8 GW are planned in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) region and 6 GW in the PJM Interconnection area.

Policies & Power

Politics is a strange game. In theory, it is about meeting the needs of the people in a way that improves the lives of the majority. In the US, the game has been distorted so that it now favors the wealthiest citizens and corporations, the best interests of the majority be damned. The current so-called government of the United States has just placed tariffs that exceed 3000 percent on imported solar panels.

The theory is that the tariffs will promote domestic manufacturing, and of course that will happen — eventually. In the meantime, domestic production will only be able to replace a small percentage of the normal supply and it will take years to ramp up to any significant amount. The winners, of course, will be the methane and coal producers who will spew more death-dealing crud into the atmosphere while the US solar industry is hobbled.

The Sun will continue to shine, and the lunatics running the asylum will continue to ignore it as they scour the Earth for more oil, methane, and coal to further enrich themselves. As the US blasts its way to energy dominance, most people are overlooking what has happened in Pakistan lately, where access to cheap solar panels has allowed many Pakistanis to leapfrog over the traditional energy generation and distribution model and go directly to locally generated electricity. Now that’s what we call “energy independence!”