Abstract
Renewable energy capacity additions reached a new high in 2025. Global renewable power capacity additions exceeded 690 gigawatts (GW) in 2025 – around one-fifth more than in 2024. Solar photovoltaics (PV) contributed more than 500 GW of this total, while wind added around 160 GW. Asia – and above all, China – remained the centre of deployment, with China accounting for close to two-thirds of new solar and three-quarters of new wind capacity. In 2025, renewable energy also overtook coal in terms of total, global installed capacity (IRENA, 2026a) to become the world’s largest source of electricity.
Variable renewable costs fell as most dispatchable renewable energy costs rose. In 2025, the global, weighted-average levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) for solar PV remained unchanged compared to 2024, at USD 44 per megawatt hour (MWh).3 Over the same period, the LCOE of onshore wind decreased to USD 33/MWh and offshore wind to USD 78/MWh. Driving these changes were two opposing factors that largely offset each other: on the one hand, cheaper equipment and lower installed costs; on the other, a higher cost of capital combined with slightly lower capacity factors.
The increases in the costs of most dispatchable renewables was driven by lower output, rather than changes in technology costs. Hydropower rose to USD 62/MWh, geothermal to USD 89/MWh and concentrated solar power (CSP) to USD 115/MWh. Bioenergy was the exception, with LCOE declining to USD 86/MWh due to increased output.