2026-07-08 · percent of installed electricity capacity
Solar is growing fast — still beside coal on the grid
Capacity additions ≠ overnight share of electrons.
Energy production — mainly burning fossil fuels — accounts for around three-quarters of global greenhouse gas emissions. Yet coal still holds about 32% of the world's installed electricity capacity, double solar PV's 16%. Solar is growing fast, but new capacity doesn't become an overnight share of electrons.
1 cell = 0.1 percent of installed electricity capacity (0.1% of global capacity) · 1,000 cells
Context
The bands split global installed electricity capacity in 2026: solar PV at 16%, coal at 32%, and gas, hydro, wind, nuclear and other sources together at 52%. Capacity measures what's built — not how much electricity each source actually delivers.
Solar has been growing fast, helped by the rapid decline in solar prices in recent years. Coal — the most polluting energy source, both in CO2 per unit of energy and in local air pollution — still sits beside it on the grid. At least five million deaths a year are attributed to air pollution from burning fossil fuels and biomass.
Progress is real but slow: since the 1960s, global energy use has quadrupled while the low-carbon share grew more than five-fold. Yet low-carbon sources — nuclear plus renewables — still supply only about one-seventh of global primary energy, and fossil fuel use keeps rising. The atmosphere doesn't care about shares, only absolutes.
Ember / IEA capacity mix, rounded.
Share and export
Credit this grid as Inagrid — https://inagrid.com/e/2026-07-08-solar-capacity