Why solar power is taking over the world

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By Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American. Excerpt: Forty-seven years ago U.S. President Jimmy Carter stood grinning in front of a set of 32 bulky solar panels. It was 1979, and the oil crisis had sent fuel costs skyrocketing. Carter, in response, was making the White House an example of conservation and alternative energy. “Solar energy will not pollute our air or water,” he said. “We will not run short of it. No one can ever embargo the sun or interrupt its delivery to us.” ...Even before the U.S.-Iran conflict closed the Strait of Hormuz for months, causing fossil-fuel prices to spike, solar was soaring. Last year the world added 600 terawatt-hours of solar photovoltaic generation, enough to power Canada for a year. It was the first time that a renewable source took the top slot in global supply growth. It was also the largest single-year increase for any electricity-generation technology, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). ...Solar Is Now the Cheapest Way to Produce Energy in Human History. ...The world—led by China—can now produce enough solar modules in one year to generate a collective 1,405 gigawatts of energy. ...Even in places where government support is weak or has declined, such as the U.S., solar “will continue to be at a competitive price,” says Christopher Namovicz, an analyst at the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Solar has now irrevocably joined coal and natural gas as an inexpensive way to power the world. ...As of 2024, China produced more than 93 percent of the world’s polycrystalline silicon, nearly 97 percent of its silicon wafers, about 92 percent of its photovoltaic cells and about 86 percent of its photovoltaic modules.... China now produces 10 percent of its power from solar.... Last year renewables met all of China’s new demand, allowing it to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions even as its energy requirements continued to grow. The country produces so much solar equipment, in fact, that it has struggled to find enough buyers, although the recent war in Iran has boosted demand. ...Solar Lets Countries Skip Fossil-Fuel Dependence Entirely. ...electric lights now cast a glow on some homes in Kijumba, where a campaign called REPower Afrika is teaching local women to install solar systems themselves. ...Across Africa, nations installed 4.5 new gigawatts of solar capacity in 2025, a 54 percent increase from 2024—the continent’s largest solar-growth year so far. “Africa’s solar revolution is here,” says Sonia Dunlop, CEO of the Global Solar Council (GSC), a trade group representing the solar industry. According to the GSC, centralized, utility-scale projects explain an average of only 15 percent of solar-panel imports over the past four years, indicating that small, rooftop panels make up a big chunk of the solar growth..... 

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