Renewables near 50%: A turning point for global energy

The global energy transition has crossed a symbolic threshold. In 2025, renewable energy capacity reached 5,149 gigawatts, accounting for 49.4 per cent of total installed electricity capacity worldwide. For the first time in modern energy history, clean power stands on the brink of matching fossil fuels in scale, signalling what many are calling a tipping point in the global energy system.
The growth behind this milestone has been both rapid and concentrated. Solar energy alone added more than 500 gigawatts in a single year, bringing total installed capacity close to 2,400 gigawatts. Alongside wind, it now dominates the expansion of new power infrastructure, with renewables accounting for over 90 per cent of all new capacity additions globally. In parallel, renewables have begun to overtake coal in actual electricity generation, marking a structural shift not just in capacity, but in real-world output.
Yet the significance of this moment lies as much in its limitations as in its scale. Despite record growth of 15.5 per cent in 2025, the pace still falls short of what is required to meet global 2030 climate targets, which demand annual growth closer to 16.6 per cent. The transition, while accelerating, remains uneven and constrained by factors beyond generation itself.
Increasingly, the bottleneck is no longer how to produce clean energy, but how to deliver it. Grid infrastructure, long overlooked, is now emerging as the critical constraint. In many regions, renewable projects are facing delays not due to technology or financing, but due to insufficient transmission capacity and outdated grid systems unable to handle variable energy flows.
As electricity demand surges, driven by electrification, artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure, the pressure on grids is intensifying.
At the same time, energy storage is reshaping the dynamics of the transition. The cost of battery storage has fallen dramatically over the past decade, unlocking the potential for solar and wind to provide more consistent, round the clock power.
This shift is redefining renewables from intermittent contributors to reliable baseload alternatives, particularly as hybrid systems combining generation and storage gain traction.
Perhaps most striking is the economic dimension of this transition
Around 90 per cent of new renewable projects are now cheaper than fossil fuel alternatives, with solar and wind significantly undercutting conventional power on cost alone. What was once framed as an environmental imperative has evolved into a clear economic advantage, reshaping investment patterns and national energy strategies.
For Oman, these global shifts carry both urgency and opportunity. As the Sultanate of Oman advances its Oman Vision 2040 agenda, renewable energy is emerging not only as a pathway to sustainability, but as a strategic pillar for economic diversification.
Large scale solar developments, green hydrogen ambitions and ongoing investments in infrastructure position Oman to participate in and potentially lead the next phase of the energy transition in the region.
The question, then, is not whether the transition is underway. It clearly is. Nor is it whether renewables can compete with fossil fuels, as on many fronts they already do. The more pressing question is whether the systems surrounding renewable energy, including grids, storage, policy frameworks and supply chains, can evolve quickly enough to sustain this momentum.
Reaching 50 per cent capacity is not the end of the transition. It is the moment the real challenge begins.