Rooftop solar capacity grew nearly 50% worldwide in 2022
Installed rooftop solar grew from 79 gigawatts to 118 gigawatts worldwide last year and is projected to reach 159 gigawatts by the end of this year.
Clean & renewable energy
This archive tracks real progress in clean and renewable energy — from solar and wind expansions to grid breakthroughs and policy wins. More than 850 articles document what’s working, where it’s scaling, and who’s driving the shift away from fossil fuels. If you follow energy news for signal rather than noise, this is a useful place to start.
Fossil fuels now account for less than half of China’s power capacity
In 2021, China set a goal for renewable capacity — including wind, solar, hydro, and nuclear power — to exceed fossil fuel capacity by 2025, a target that it has hit two years ahead of schedule.
Wind and solar generate more power than coal in the U.S. over five months for the first time ever
“From a coal perspective, it has been a disaster,” said Andy Blumenfeld, an analyst who tracks the industry at McCloskey by OPIS. “The decline is happening faster than anyone anticipated.”
World-first space solar demonstration beams power from orbit to Earth
A Caltech team is celebrating the world’s first space-based wireless power transmission, and the first time detectable levels of power have been beamed down to Earth.
New Zealand announces $140m project to transition its major steel plant from coal to renewable energy
The move is the nation’s largest-ever emissions reduction effort and is expected to take the equivalent of 300,000 cars off the road.
India pauses plans to add new coal plants for at least five years
The temporary pause in the growth of the dirty fuel was hailed by energy experts as a positive step for a country that is currently reliant on coal for around 75% of its electricity.
Helion announces world’s first fusion energy purchase agreement with Microsoft
The landmark clean energy facility is expected to be online by 2028, significantly sooner than typical projections for deployment of commercial fusion power.
Planes in the E.U. will have to be partly powered by sustainable fuel
By 2025, 2% of fuel offered at EU airports must be sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). This must rise to 6% by 2030, 20% by 2035, and 70% of by 2050.
China completes and activates massive solar farm in the Gobi Desert
The first of many solar and wind projects in China’s deserts is now online, and it’s capable of powering a staggering 1.5 million households.
British wind power overtakes gas for the first time
Wind power just crossed a historic line in the U.K., supplying 32.4% of the country’s electricity in the first quarter of 2023 — narrowly beating gas at 31.7%. It’s the first time on record that wind farms have outpaced gas plants over a full quarter, and renewables together delivered nearly 42% of Britain’s power. Decades of offshore wind investment, falling turbine costs, and the urgency triggered by Europe’s 2022 energy shock all helped get the country here. The lead researcher called it a “genuine milestone,” and rightly so. For climate movements everywhere, it’s quiet proof that energy transitions, however slow and contested, really do arrive — and once the turbines are built, the wind keeps blowing for free.