The world plugged in a record 693 gigawatts of clean power last year

Somewhere on Earth, every single day of 2025, workers bolted down enough solar panels and wind turbines to power a small country — 693 gigawatts in total, the most clean power humanity has ever added in one year, pushing the global total past 5 terawatts. The stocktake, released Monday by the International Renewable Energy Agency with the COP31 presidency and the Global Renewables Alliance, says the 2030 goal of tripling renewables is still in reach — but annual installations must nearly double to about 1,200 gigawatts, and grid investment must roughly double to nearly $1 trillion a year. One bright detail: battery costs fell 30% in a single year, and are down 95% since 2010.