LONDON, July 26 — How does a technology go from niche to dominant in little more than a decade? The numbers behind solar photovoltaic power tell the story plainly. In 2010, the world had about 40 gigawatts of installed solar PV capacity.
By 2023, that figure had reached 1,200 gigawatts — a 30-fold increase. What researchers found, when they ran the numbers, was that solar alone accounted for 70% of net renewable additions in 2023, adding 400 gigawatts globally that year.
For comparison, wind power capacity, the other big renewable, stood at 1,000 gigawatts in 2023.
A Thirty-Fold Leap
The sheer pace of deployment is striking. But the science behind why it happened is even more intriguing. Solar PV costs fell 90% between 2010 and 2023.
That collapse in price made it the cheapest source of electricity in many countries — India and Saudi Arabia are named examples. When a technology undercuts every other option on cost alone, its adoption curve tends to steepen rapidly.
Wind power, meanwhile, remains competitive but at a different price point. Onshore wind averaged between $30 and $40 per megawatt-hour in 2023; offshore wind came in at $70 to $100 per megawatt-hour. Those are still low numbers, but solar’s cost advantage in sunny regions is now hard to ignore.
Storing the Sun
One traditional objection to solar has been intermittency — the sun does not shine at night, and clouds can dull output. Here, too, the economics have shifted. Lithium-ion battery pack costs fell to $140 per kilowatt-hour in 2023.
That matters because cheap storage allows solar power to be saved and dispatched when needed. It is not a perfect solution yet, but it addresses the intermittency concern in a way that was not feasible a decade ago.
The mechanism is straightforward: solar panels generate electricity during the day; batteries capture the excess; that stored power is released in the evening or during a cloudy spell. As battery costs continue their downward trend — they have dropped dramatically since 2010 — the pairing becomes more practical.
Who’s Building?
Two countries stand out in installation figures. China installed 216 gigawatts of solar in 2023 — more than half of the global total added that year. The United States added 33 gigawatts.
That gap reflects different policy environments and manufacturing bases, but both are major contributors to a sector that now employs over 12 million people worldwide, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency’s 2023 data. Employment in solar spans manufacturing, installation, maintenance, and grid integration.
It is not just about panels on roofs; it involves supply chains, engineering firms, and project developers. What to watch next: battery costs continue to fall, and solar deployment is likely to keep accelerating. The 1,200-gigawatt figure from 2023 is already outdated — the trajectory suggests another leap in the years ahead.
Whether grid infrastructure and permitting can keep up with the pace of installation will be the next question.
Sources
{“@context”: “https://schema.org”, “@type”: “NewsArticle”, “headline”: “The Drivers: Solar and Wind Power Take Center Stage”, “description”: “LONDON, July 26 — How does a technology go from niche to dominant in little more than a decade? The numbers behind solar photovoltaic power…”, “datePublished”: “2026-07-26T09:30:00+00:00”, “author”: {“@type”: “Person”, “name”: “Henry Thomas”}, “publisher”: {“@type”: “Organization”, “name”: “InfoPulse Today”, “url”: “https://newsfeed.infopulsetoday.com/”}, “citation”: [{“@type”: “CreativeWork”, “url”: “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power”}]}
