Global Solar Growth Accelerates

May 21, 2025 

Based on the International Energy Agency’s latest electricity statistics, solar generation output across OECD countries continues to increase. Even though solar is growing fast, a sharp drop in wind energy—especially in Europe—caused total renewable electricity to dip slightly. While overall renewable electricity in OECD countries went down by 2.1% in February 2025, solar power kept growing—up 24.5% compared to last year.

The increase wasn’t enough to make up for a big drop in wind power, which fell 17%, especially in OECD Europe. The biggest wind power declines were in Germany, France, and Poland.

Hydropower stayed about the same, with no major changes.

OECD countries are the 37 leading democracies with market-based economies, representing three-fifths of global GDP and a reliable source of economic data and policy analysis.

Read more: https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/data-tools/monthly-electricity-statistics