Surge in Solar Energy Deployment Offers a Glimmer of Hope in Dark Times
As Trump tightens his authoritarian grip in the US, hundreds of ‘Sun Day’ events celebrate and showcase the promise of clean, affordable energy.
“There is one big good thing happening on planet Earth,” says the renowned author and environmentalist Bill McKibben, who wrote the first book for a general audience about the problem of global warming called The End of Nature back in 1989. His latest book, which borrows its optimistic title Here Comes the Sun from the much-loved Beatles tune, explores the promising trend of the incredible rise of renewable solar energy around the world. With plummeting costs and record rates of installations, the rapid surge in the deployment of this clean energy resource provides an immediate and scalable solution to address issues of energy security and affordability as well as the overheating of our planet. And at a time of both rising global temperatures and rising geopolitical tensions, McKibben says it offers a glimmer of hope.
“It is so big and so good that it at least raises the possibility of being able to take a bite, maybe a significant one, out of both the climate crisis and the authoritarianism crisis,” he said, speaking on September 13 in New Marlborough, Massachusetts during one of the stops on his new book tour.
“Countries that cling to fossil fuels are not protecting their economies – they are sabotaging them.” - UN Secretary-General António Guterres
Solar energy is now the fastest growing source of electric power on the planet. “Paired with battery storage, solar is set to be an unstoppable force. As the fastest-growing and largest source of new electricity, it is critical in meeting the world’s ever-increasing demand for electricity,” says Phil MacDonald, managing director of the global energy think tank Ember, which reported in April that solar generation has doubled over the last three years. Solar installations appear to be having another record year this year, with global deployment in the first six months of 2025 up 64% (for a total of 380 gigawatts installed capacity) compared to the same period in 2024, according to Ember.
In the United States, solar installations in the first six months of this year amounted to 18 gigawatts of new capacity – accounting for 82% of all new power added to the US grid, despite a concerted effort by the Trump administration to stifle clean energy. “Solar and storage are the backbone of America’s energy future, delivering the majority of new power to the grid at the lowest cost to families and businesses,” says Solar Energy Industries Association president and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper.
Indeed, when it comes to cost, renewable solar and wind energy are now largely cheaper than fossil fuels. As the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) reported in July, 91% of new renewable projects worldwide are now cheaper than fossil fuel alternatives. “In 2024, solar photovoltaics (PV) were, on average, 41% cheaper than the lowest-cost fossil fuel alternatives, while onshore wind projects were 53% cheaper,” IRENA stated in a press release.
On the same day that report came out in July, UN Secretary-General António Guterres delivered a speech highlighting the unstoppable trajectory of the clean energy transition. “The clean energy future is no longer a promise. It’s a fact,” he said. “Countries that cling to fossil fuels are not protecting their economies – they are sabotaging them.”
While China is still burning a lot of coal, it is also currently leading the world in the clean energy revolution. As McKibben explains, the Chinese have recently been putting up 3 gigawatts of solar each day. Other countries and parts of the world too, such as Pakistan and large parts of Africa, have been rapidly installing new solar generation.
The US is at risk of getting left behind with the Trump administration going all out to try to kill wind and solar energy. But there has been some progress at the state level. Texas, McKibben explains, “is the leading clean energy pioneer in America now.” And California is increasingly generating its electricity from renewable and zero-carbon sources. As McKibben points out, the Golden State used 40% less natural gas this summer to generate electricity than it did two years ago.
Earlier this year the state of Utah passed a first-in-the-nation law facilitating consumer access to small plug-in solar systems, also known as balcony or portable solar. These small-scale units allow people who may not be able to afford a rooftop solar PV system or who aren’t homeowners to still be able to generate a portion of their home energy needs through solar. Portable or balcony solar is already widely available in Europe – in Germany, for example, there are around four million of these systems in use. But regulations in the US generally prohibit their uptake.
Now, other states are looking to follow Utah’s lead in removing some of these regulatory barriers to portable solar. Pennsylvania and Vermont recently announced plans to introduce plug-in portable solar legislation. “Plug-in solar makes it easier and more affordable for households across the state to generate their own power - especially those who have had the hardest time going solar to date, like renters. That’s why we’re joining this campaign to enable it in law,” Ben Edgerly Walsh, Climate & Energy Program Director at the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, said in a statement last week announcing a campaign supporting new portable solar legislation in Vermont that will be introduced early next year.
As more and more people here in the US and around the world start to adopt or otherwise benefit from the economic and environmental savings of clean energy, the shift can start to chip away at the immense wealth and political power of the fossil fuel industry and of the plutocrats it enables, McKibben argues. Fossil fuels are available only in select places on the planet, he notes, which makes those who control that resource very powerful and wealthy, and these oligarchs are using their power to erode democracies around the world.
“The world is making this transition from a resource that’s only available in a few places to one that’s available to everyone everywhere,” McKibben says. “This is one of the few concrete ways to begin to erode [authoritarians’] power.”
And although the transition to clean energy is well underway, much more needs to be done to accelerate it given the rapidly closing window of time left to try to mitigate the worsening climate emergency. “I have little doubt we will run the world on sun and wind 40 years from now, but if it takes us anything like 40 years to get there then it will be a broken planet,” McKibben writes in his new book.
With that time crunch in mind, McKibben has helped to organize a day of action showcasing and celebrating the potential of clean energy, with over 400 events planned across the US today, September 21. It is fittingly called Sun Day.
“On September 21st, people everywhere will be showcasing solar installations, electric homes and vehicles running on clean power,” the Sun Day website explains. “Sun Day will help accelerate the ongoing clean energy revolution: we have the technology and the solutions; all we need is to build the political will to scale-up and accelerate clean energy and make it accessible to all.”
Excellent post. It would also be interesting to read about the status and outlook for the large wind power project off the New England coast that President Trump shutdown.