this post was submitted on 28 Mar 2026
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Upvote. It always bugs me when headlines focus on electricity rather than total energy use. And flip between the terms as if the author and their editors maybe don't know the difference.
Then again i don't know what I should expect from an article that thinks "warp speed" is a reasonable description of anything.
Even within the limited frame of electricity generation, coal and gas (output electrical energy) have gone up maybe +1.2PWh since 2019. Roughly double that for the input fuel energy but best stick with output to compare to Solar.
Solar elec gen might be up +1.5 to 2.5PWh from 2019 if we believe the cited 2025 estimates. But overall I'd call that 'growing a bit faster' than coal and gas generation not really pushing it aside. We've not seen coal and gas elec gen figures for 2025 though, if all this ai datacentres talk is to be believed, then it's very possible that gas and coal has ramped up too - as they're by far the easiest to turn up in the short term. They just have to ignore any environmental restrictions and run coal for more hours.
I'd be reckoning Solar elec gen at <2% of total energy demand in 2025 factoring in their claimed growth for 2025, not 10%.