Renewable energy just overtook coal as the single largest source of power this year!

So, data from global energy think tank Ember revealed that for the first six months of 2025, renewable energy sources generated more electricity than coal. That was largely led by the use of solar and wind power.

This is the first time that’s ever happened!

According to Ember, access to solar and wind power has increased significantly. The push is being led by countries like China, India, Pakistan and Nigeria. 

On the other hand, during the same period, the US and EU actually relied more on fossil fuels. 

For the US, electricity demand grew faster than clean energy output, which increased the reliance on fossil fuels.  While in the EU, months of weak wind and hydropower performance led to a rise in coal and gas generation. 

A report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) said the divide is likely to grow wider over the coming years as a result of the policies of the Trump administration. The IEA actually halved its renewable energy growth forecast for this decade. 

Meanwhile, in Jamaica, we’re getting closer to our renewable energy targets. One of the Vision 2030 goals is to have 50% of electricity from renewables by 2030.

Now the government says we’re on track to achieve that, but I’m sceptical. 2030 is just five years away, and so far, we only have about 12% of our power mix coming from renewables.  But to be fair, that’s up from the low single digits earlier in the decade. 

Plus, there’s a long list of projects in the pipeline. Wigton Energy has approvals for a multibillion-dollar solar farm in Clarendon. Energy Minister Daryl Vaz said another 100 megawatts of renewables are set to come on stream during the current financial year. That would bring the total to 17%.

Then another 220 MW in the 2027/2028 financial year will bring the total to 27%.

By 2028, he said we’ll be at 33%.  Then the Generation Procurement Entity will go back to market for 300 MW.  And that will bring the country to 50% by 2030.  But keep in mind, these projects haven’t even gone to market yet, much less started building.  

So 2030, I don’t know.  But we are making progress, and based on these new developments, we may need to speed things up.

And that’s the bottom line.