Renewables Top 25% of U.S. Power as Coal’s Grip Collapses
In 2025, the share of renewables in U.S. electricity generation has surpassed 25 percent.
Over the course of the past 20 years, their share has continuously risen from just 8.6 percent in 2007.
At the same time, as Statista's Kathraina Buchholz details in the infographic below, coal in electricity generation fell from a share of 49 percent to just 16.4 percent last year.
You will find more infographics at Statista
While Trump administration's policies regarding renewable energy and greenhouse gases have yet to show their full effect, experts believe that the sector's strong growth as well as efficiency and cost improvements will cause it to expand further – albeit slower – despite some government funding losses and the end of emission limits.
In 2022, more electricity was generated from renewable sources in the U.S. for the first time over the course of one year than from coal.
That year, renewable energy sources created more than 900 terawatt-hours of electric power in the country compared to a little over 800 that came from coal.
On a global scale, this change happened last year as renewables outweighed coal electricity generation in the second half of 2025.
Up until 2007, coal accounted for more than 2,000 terawatt hours of electricity in the U.S. before the figure started to declined as regulations around fossil fuels - limits on carbon-intensity and the emissions of toxic elements like mercury - tightened. Electricity generation from natural gas gained pace as a result since it produces somewhat less CO2. To reach the emission goals associated with the net zero age, however, the U.S. would have to continue growing carbon-neutral electricity sources like wind and solar, which have been on a steady upwards climb in the new millennium and are now the second biggest source of electric power in the country.
Looking not only at electricity but energy use as a whole, renewables have a longer way to go in the U.S. and globally.
Here, renewable energy made up only 9 percent in 2023 as energy sources outside of electricity - most notably petroleum in the form of gasoline - are added to the mix.
By Zerohedge.com
Clean Energy Markets Face a Volatile Year Despite Record Global Investment
- Global renewable energy investment reached a record high in 2025, primarily driven by growth in offshore wind and small-scale solar, especially in developing markets.
- The United States experienced its biggest quarterly drop in clean energy investing in nearly a decade, largely due to the end of a Biden-era EV tax credit that led to $65 billion in EV sector write-offs.
- A market correction is anticipated for 2026, with a potential resurgence in private equity dealmaking, fueled in part by increasing power demand from artificial-intelligence data centers.
It’s been a volatile year for clean energy markets. Despite major policy shifts impacting green industries, global renewable energy investment hit a record high in 2025. A closer look at last year’s figures reveals a high level of ambivalence in the marketplace, with a sharp drop in clean energy investments in the United States in the last corner, but a surprising resurgence of clean energy dealmaking over the same time frame.
The electric vehicles sector, in particular, is already showing signs of sharp contraction after the Trump administration ended a Biden-era EV tax credit last fall. Globally, EV manufacturers have registered a combined $65 billion in write-offs since the $7,500 U.S. federal tax credit was rolled back in September, with major automakers like Ford and Stellantis reporting hefty losses and EV program cancellations. In the United States, the drop in electric vehicle sales was the primary driver of the biggest quarterly drop in clean energy investing that the country has seen in almost a decade.
While clean energy investing was strong overall in 2025 in the United States, reaching a record annual high of $277 billion, the numbers for the fourth quarter are grim. A reported $8 billion in clean energy projects were scrapped, and just $3 billion worth of new projects announced. “That means the pipeline of new investment is shrinking,” Hannah Hess, associate director of climate and energy for the Rhodium group, recently told nonpartisan news outlet Semafor. “Usually, even when we see quarterly fluctuations, from a zoomed-out view we continue to see sustained momentum. That’s no longer true.”
And the EV investing and clean energy investing drop is likely to continue as the Trump administration ramps up its climate policy rollbacks. Earlier this month, the administration delivered “one of the single largest deregulatory actions in U.S. history” when it ended the 2009 law classifying carbon dioxide as a threat to public health, kneecapping regulators’ ability to set emissions caps.
However, Bloomberg reports that there are signs of a coming resurgence in private equity dealmaking in the clean energy sector after a year characterized by extreme policy uncertainty. Last year saw a plummet in clean energy acquisitions, with a more-than 50 percent year-on-year contraction. In fact, numbers dipped down to 2013 levels, effectively erasing over a decade of growth.
But there are several reasons that we can expect a market correction in 2026. “Power demand from artificial-intelligence data centers continues to boost investment in renewables, with US data-center electricity consumption projected to triple by 2035 from 2024 levels,” Bloomberg reports. “At the same time, last year’s slowdown has forced developers and asset owners to reassess valuations.” While dealmaking is on the rise, the sector has a whole lot of ground to recover.
While clean energy investing in the United States fell 36 percent from the second half of 2024 in response to the rapidly shifting policy landscape, global numbers are looking stronger than ever. Worldwide, investments in creating new renewable energy production capacity reached a record $386 billion in the first half of 2025. This growth was primarily driven by offshore wind and small-scale solar development.
Markets in the developing world are showing huge growth in terms of clean energy deployment and electric vehicle adoption. As it has become an affordable and accessible option, small-scale solar has boomed in resource-constrained economies like Pakistan and much of sub-Saharan Africa.
“Markets with supportive revenue mechanisms have maintained momentum on renewable energy investment,” says Meredith Annex, Head of Clean Power at BloombergNEF. “Whereas projects in markets where revenue certainty is shifting, particularly when it’s down to large swings in policy as in the US or mainland China, are seeing a boom-bust cycle ahead of those changes.”
By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com
First Solar Sees Record 2025 Profit, Guides Steady 2026 Sales
First Solar reported record 2025 earnings and set 2026 guidance projecting up to $5.2 billion in sales, underpinned by U.S. manufacturing expansion and federal production tax credits.
First Solar, Inc. posted net sales of $5.2 billion for 2025, up from $4.2 billion in 2024, as third-party module volumes climbed 24% year-on-year. Fourth-quarter sales reached $1.7 billion, modestly higher than the prior quarter on stronger module shipments.
Net income for the year rose to $1.53 billion, or $14.21 per diluted share, compared with $12.02 per share in 2024. In the fourth quarter alone, the company earned $4.84 per diluted share. Operating income for the year increased to nearly $1.6 billion, while gross profit expanded to $2.12 billion.
The U.S.-headquartered thin-film solar manufacturer ended 2025 with a gross cash balance of $2.9 billion and a net cash position of $2.4 billion, up sharply from $1.5 billion at the end of the third quarter. The increase was driven largely by proceeds from the sale of advanced manufacturing production tax credits under Section 45X of the Inflation Reduction Act framework, as well as operating cash flow, partially offset by capital spending on its Louisiana facility.
Adjusted EBITDA for 2025 came in at $2.36 billion, compared with EBITDA of $2.07 billion, reflecting addbacks for foreign exchange impacts, tax credit monetization discounts, start-up costs, and other items.
Looking ahead, First Solar guided 2026 net sales in a range of $4.9 billion to $5.2 billion, with module volumes between 17.0 GW and 18.2 GW. The company expects adjusted EBITDA of $2.6 billion to $2.8 billion and capital expenditures of $800 million to $1.0 billion. Year-end 2026 net cash is projected between $1.7 billion and $2.3 billion.
Gross margin guidance for 2026 is set at $2.4 billion to $2.6 billion, assuming between $2.10 billion and $2.19 billion in Section 45X tax credits and factoring in underutilization costs and production start-up expenses. First-quarter 2026 adjusted EBITDA is forecast at $400 million to $500 million, supported by anticipated tax credit generation of up to $400 million.
The outlook assumes continuity in the current U.S. policy environment, including trade measures and the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act as amended in 2025. Management flagged the importance of permitting timelines and the ability to monetize tax credits as key variables.
Strategically, 2025 marked a milestone year with the commissioning of a new Louisiana manufacturing plant and a decision to establish an additional facility in South Carolina, reinforcing First Solar’s positioning as the largest U.S.-based photovoltaic manufacturer. Unlike many global competitors reliant on crystalline silicon supply chains centered in Asia, First Solar produces cadmium telluride thin-film modules through a vertically integrated domestic process.
The results come amid persistent global solar module oversupply and pricing pressure, particularly from Chinese manufacturers, while U.S. trade remedies and domestic content incentives continue to reshape supply chains. First Solar’s emphasis on pricing certainty and long-term contracted volumes has differentiated it in a volatile market environment.
With a strengthened balance sheet, rising earnings, and substantial embedded tax credit support, First Solar enters 2026 with financial flexibility as it continues expanding U.S. manufacturing capacity in a policy landscape still largely supportive of domestic clean energy production.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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