Solar and wind are increasingly outpacing nuclear power globally, with solar generation surpassing nuclear for the first time in 2025, according to WNISR 2026. The report highlights nuclear’s slow growth, lengthy construction timelines and limited small modular reactor deployment, contrasting them with rapid renewables and battery expansion. By March 2025 through June 2026, either solar or wind individually generated more electricity than nuclear every month.
In March, April and May 2026, both technologies independently surpassed nuclear generation. Global solar capacity increased by 510 GW to 2,383 GW, up 27% year on year, while wind added a record 159 GW to reach 1,291 GW, an increase of 14%. By comparison, installed nuclear capacity rose by just 1.5 GW to 399.5 GW, while operating nuclear capacity declined by 0.5 GW to 368.6 GW.
The report notes that nuclear capacity has remained essentially flat for more than 25 years, while wind and, particularly, solar have expanded rapidly. More recent data from IEA PVPS indicate that global PV additions reached around 690 GW in 2025, about 180 GW more than the figure used by WNISR. This suggests the gap between solar and nuclear capacity – and their respective growth rates – was even wider than indicated in the report.
Meanwhile, the world’s operating nuclear fleet increased output by 1.1% – with output declining outside China – while global solar power generation jumped by a stunning 30%, surpassing nuclear’s annual electricity production for the first time.
Source: Hacker News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing