Fatih Birol

Notable Quotes

"Last year, we said the world was moving quickly into the Age of Electricity – and it's clear today that it has already arrived."

from The renewable revolution · Updated Feb 27

The transition to clean energy is happening worldwide and it's unstoppable. It's not a question of 'if', it's just a matter of 'how soon.'

from The great energy flip · Updated Feb 17

The more we go for clean energy, the more resistant we are to global conflicts because nobody can take solar or wind as a hostage.

from The great energy flip · Updated Feb 17

Stories

The renewable revolution

New Capabilities

Leading voice on global energy transition analysis

In 2004, it took the world an entire year to install one gigawatt of solar power. By 2025, that amount went online every single day—a pace that propelled global renewable capacity past 5,000 gigawatts by year-end. Science Magazine named this accelerating surge in renewable energy its 2025 Breakthrough of the Year, recognizing solar and wind eclipsing coal as the world's largest electricity source; yesterday, U.S. Energy Information Administration data confirmed renewables supplied a record 25.7% of U.S. electricity in 2025, generating 1,162 terawatt-hours—a 10% increase over 2024—with utility-scale solar up 34.5% and 53 gigawatts of new renewable capacity added.

Updated Feb 27

The great energy flip

New Capabilities

Leading global energy policy since 2015

Renewables are now in the process of overtaking coal globally after drawing level in 2025, according to the International Energy Agency's February 2026 Electricity report. Solar and wind generation continues its exponential growth, with renewables and nuclear combined forecast to reach 50% of global electricity by 2030—up from 42% today. Solar photovoltaic alone is projected to add over 600 TWh annually through 2030, driving renewable generation growth at 8% per year. The transition is accelerating across regions: coal use declined in India and China due to slower demand growth and rapid renewable expansion, while coal remained broadly flat globally in 2025 after peaking in 2023. A historic milestone emerged in China in early February 2026, where wind and solar capacity officially exceeded coal capacity for the first time in history—with solar capacity alone projected to surpass coal by 2026.

Updated Feb 17

Global oil markets enter oversupply era

Money Moves

Leading voice on energy transition and market balance

Brent crude averaged $80 per barrel in 2024. The U.S. Energy Information Administration now forecasts it will fall to $58 in 2026 and $53 in 2027—a decline of more than one-third in three years. The reason: global oil production is growing faster than demand, and inventories are piling up at a rate not seen since the pandemic.

Updated Feb 11

AI data centers are rebuilding – and stress-testing – the U.S. power grid

Built World

Framing AI and data centres as a top-tier driver of global electricity demand

Since late 2022, U.S. regulators and utilities have warned that a new class of digital infrastructure—AI-optimized data centers—could reshape national power demand, ending an era of flat electricity consumption and forcing a rapid buildout of generation and transmission. By early 2026, those warnings have crystallized into concrete challenges: PJM Interconnection's December 2025 capacity auction hit the $333.44/MW-day price cap and failed to meet reliability requirements for the first time in its history, with data centers accounting for $6.5 billion—or 40%—of the auction's $16.4 billion in costs. Regional grid operators now project U.S. data center electricity consumption will grow from 183 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2024 to over 400 TWh by 2030, while the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates data centres globally could more than double their electricity use to approximately 945 TWh in the same timeframe, with AI-optimized servers as the main driver.

Updated Jan 27