The combined global pipeline for utility-scale solar and wind reached 4.9 TW in 2025, growing 11% YoY, slower than the 22% growth seen in 2024, according to the Global Energy Monitor
Utility-scale solar continued to lead expansion, with its pipeline rising 17%, compared with just 7% growth for wind projects
Of the 758 GW of projects currently under construction, about 75% are in China (448 GW) and India (125 GW)
The pipeline of utility-scale solar PV projects increased 17% year-on-year (YoY) to 2.2 TW in 2025, while wind energy’s 2.7 TW rose by 7%, reports Global Energy Monitor (GEM). Together, this pipeline expanded by 11%, down from 22% recorded in 2024.
Of the total volume of projects tracked last year, GEM reports a 17% expansion in the utility-scale solar pipeline. In comparison, wind grew by only 7%. Within this 4.9 TW pipeline, which includes announced, pre-construction, and under-construction projects, 758 GW are currently under construction, with 75% of it coming up in China (448 GW) and India (125 GW).
On an annual basis, solar pipeline growth slowed by 7%, with the decline more pronounced for wind projects, reporting a 13% decline in annual growth. GEM attributes the decline in wind projects to ‘political barriers and a streak of failed wind power auctions’.
At this rate, GEM believes that even if all wind and utility-scale solar projects planned by 2030 are completed, the world would still fall short of the tripling target, leaving gaps of 1 TW for wind and 1.6 TW for utility-scale solar.
“While prospective wind and utility-scale solar projects with unknown commissioning dates could compensate for the deficit, political barriers and implementation disincentives could delay their deployment,” add the analysts, while highlighting that the growth of the prospective wind and utility-scale solar pipeline is critical for meeting the COP28 commitment to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030.
Over the next 5 years, utility-scale solar additions must reach 2.2 TW to meet the COP28 commitment of tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). It estimates the world needs average annual additions of 735 GW for utility-scale solar and 317 GW of wind energy by 2030 to meet the target.
GEM analysts also observe that, instead of the world’s wealthiest nations, the G7, it is the emerging and developing economies that are now becoming the ‘center of gravity’ for new clean power. While the G7’s pipeline of utility-scale solar and wind energy projects has remained largely unchanged at 520 GW since 2023, countries outside China and China together expanded the planned capacity from 2.7 TW to 2.9 TW.
China alone accounts for a combined wind and utility-scale solar pipeline of 1.5 TW, up from 1.2 TW in the previous year.
China, of course, already has 3x more operating wind and solar capacity than the US (over 368 GW) and India (more than 163 GW) combined, with at least 1.6 TW in operation. This includes 1.2 TW of solar with the addition of 315 GW in 2025 (see China Sets New Annual Solar PV Installation Record In 2025).
GEM trains its lens on distributed solar in its latest briefing note, calling it a ‘pillar’ of clean energy transition, but its growth is also not evenly spread. Distributed solar represents 42% of all existing and prospective solar capacity globally.
China leads the world in distributed solar capacity, which made up 489 GW of the cumulative at the end of last year, more than 7x Germany’s 69 GW. The US accounts for 58.1 GW and India 29.2 GW. However, it is Europe where the expansion of distributed solar is more pronounced than in the rest of the world.
Of the global total reported operating distributed solar capacity of nearly 900 GW across 31 nations/areas, the top 10 nations account for 90% of it, showing the high concentration. The analysts highlight that there is also significant room for expansion.
GEM analysts argue that it is time for wealthy nations – read G7 – to invest in grids and storage to support distributed solar and limit solar curtailment if the world is to achieve the COP28 target by 2030.