According to Thinktank, hydropower still outpaces solar energy, which has grown at the greatest rate over the past 20 years.

According to data, for the first time since the 1940s, over 40% of the world's electricity demand was met by clean power sources last year. The milestone was driven by a surge in solar power capacity, which has doubled in the previous three years, according to a research by the energy think group Ember. According to the research, for the past 20 years in a row, solar farms have been the energy source with the greatest rate of growth worldwide.

All things considered, solar energy still makes up a comparatively modest portion of the world's energy system. According to Ember, it accounted for about 7% of worldwide electricity production last year, whilst wind power accounted for little more than 8%. Hydropower, which has been rather stable in recent years and accounted for 14% of global electricity in 2024, continues to dwarf the rapidly expanding technologies.

In the 1940s, when the power system was around 50 times smaller than it is now, hydro power—one of the oldest renewable energy sources in the contemporary world—accounted for a significant amount of the world's electricity. According to Ember, clean power, which includes nuclear and biofuels, is expected to develop more quickly than the global need for electricity because to the ongoing expansion of solar. This should indicate that the world's electricity grid is starting to rely less on fossil fuels.