Solar power is growing at a staggering pace, challenging fossil fuels and reshaping economies, industrial systems and geopolitics.
While the political drama of the energy transition has centred on the United States this year, and whether Donald Trump will succeed in derailing it, something quieter but more consequential is happening elsewhere. Solar is becoming the world’s new energy superpower.
What makes solar unique is that it doesn’t rely on the centuries-old model of spinning turbines, unlike almost every other energy source. Instead, it harnesses a quirk of physics discovered in the 1830s, the photovoltaic effect, where light knocks electrons loose to make electricity.
For decades, this was an expensive curiosity, confined to niche applications such as space shuttles and calculators. But in the past 15 years, costs have plummeted so far that solar is growing at a pace unmatched in energy history.
The pace is staggering. According to Ember, an energy think tank, global solar generation has doubled in just three years, with annual growth rates consistently above 20 per cent. It has been the largest source of new electricity generation for the past three years, meeting 40 per cent of new global electricity demand last year.
