Today's Edition
A. SREENIVASA REDDY (ABU DHABI)
BRICS nations — Brazil, China, India, South Africa, Russia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the UAE — accounted for more than half of the world’s solar power generation in 2024, according to a report by Ember, a global energy think tank.
The BRICS nations accounted for 51% of the world’s electricity generation from solar, a dramatic rise from just 15% a decade ago, the report said.
China was the dominant driver of this increase, making up 39% of global solar generation in 2024, up from 12% in 2014. India and Brazil were also major contributors, with India accounting for 6.3% (up from 2.5% in 2014), and Brazil for 3.5% (0.01% in 2014). South Africa and the UAE each made up 0.9%, with the remaining BRICS countries together contributing 0.5% of the global total.
The report, titled “Solar BRICS: Emerging economies now lead the world's clean energy race”, highlights how China, India and Brazil have emerged as key players in the global solar transition. China generated 834 TWh of electricity from solar in 2024 — nearly three times more than the United States — while India reached 133 TWh, making it the third-largest solar generator globally. Brazil joined the top five for the first time with 75 TWh, overtaking Germany.
South Africa and the UAE also featured among the top 20, ranking 16th and 18th, respectively.
Between January and April 2025, solar power generation across the five original BRICS countries rose by 39% year-on-year, led by strong performances in China (+42%, +98 TWh), India (+32%, +14.1 TWh), and Brazil (+35%, +7.9 TWh). In contrast, South Africa recorded a modest 3% increase, while Russia continued to lag with less than 0.5 TWh of solar generation during the period.
“This increase in China’s solar power in just the first four months of 2025 was equivalent to Italy’s total electricity demand during the same period,” the report said.
China also achieved another milestone, with solar and wind generation exceeding 25% of total electricity for a single month for the first time in April, the report said.
Solar energy met 37% of the total increase in electricity generation across BRICS nations in 2024. When combined with other clean energy sources, the total contribution reached 70%, signalling a major shift from fossil fuels. In China, clean sources met 82% of generation growth, with solar alone contributing 41%.
“This marks a major leap from previous decades — solar contributed 14% of generation growth between 2014–2023, and a mere 0.25% in the ten years before that,” the report said.
Despite varying trajectories, the report asserts that BRICS nations are poised for further clean energy growth. “China, Brazil, India are already showing that economic development and clean electricity growth can go hand in hand. In these countries, solar power has emerged as the driver of the electricity transition,” the report said.
The economics of clean energy is shifting rapidly. “All-day, year-round solar power is now feasible and cost-competitive in countries such as South Africa by pairing solar installations with batteries. The fall in solar and battery module prices will only further strengthen the case for solar power in BRICS nations,” the report said.
It also notes that solar and battery technologies are becoming increasingly cost-competitive, with countries like the UAE beginning to deploy solar power at scale.
The UAE currently hosts three of the largest solar power plants in the world, targeting a clean energy production capacity of 14.2 gigawatts by 2030. Masdar, UAE’s renewable energy firm, announced in January plans to create a new solar and battery energy facility that will deliver 1 gigawatt of uninterrupted clean power.
