Solar + Batteries = Supercharged energy transition
Ember Current – September 2025 Newsletter
The energy transition has entered lift-off. In my home country, Bulgaria, I see more and more solar panels popping up on the rooftops of houses and commercial buildings alike. Just by opening Google Maps and browsing satellite images across our capital city, Sofia, you can see solar on most major warehouse-style buildings. And the data reflects this: Bulgaria just hit a new solar record, with 0.9 TWh generated in July 2025. That’s up 51% from July 2024!
Across the world, we are witnessing a technology-led revolution spearheaded by solar panels and batteries. They are being deployed at explosive rates. Costs are falling fast, and performance is surging. Batteries have suddenly become cheaper, better and a real game-changer for solar power, enabling it to meet electricity demand any time across the day.
Best,
Kostantsa Rangelova
Global Electricity Analyst
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Insights, analyses and commentaries
My top picks for August
The rise of solar and batteries has been a major source of optimism about the energy transition. 2024 was the third consecutive year that solar was the largest source of new electricity globally. After Pakistan appeared in media headlines across the world several months ago for its surging solar panel imports, many countries across Africa are now also setting records for solar panel imports. In India, battery storage is reaching commercial viability, opening the door to faster clean power deployment. Change can happen quickly, once economics align. Up-to-date and reliable data and research are vital to understand and support this positive momentum.
The age of storage: Batteries primed for India’s power markets
Extreme price swings in India’s wholesale electricity markets and growing concerns around grid instability are opening up new markets for energy storage. Batteries are now a critical solution to drive value for both capital and consumers. Starting in 2024, expected annual revenues exceeded annualised costs for the first time.
The first evidence of a take-off in solar in Africa
There has been a major pick-up in solar panel imports into Africa over the last 12 months – a shift that is likely to impact almost every country on the continent.
There’s more!
- Solar electricity every hour of every day is here and it changes everything | Read the report
- China solar cell exports grow 73% in 2025 | Read the report
- Solar and flexibility: key to Türkiye’s rising cooling challenge | Read the report
- It’s time for Europe to take stock of its abandoned coal mines – a major source of methane | Read the report
Ember in the news
- The World Is Far Off From a Landmark Goal to Triple Renewables | Bloomberg
- Independence 2.0: India’s clean energy future is its strongest trade defence | Fortune India
- Mexico could save $1.6 billion with renewable energy | Reforma
What I’m reading
Visual storytelling corner
Chart of the month
I chose this infographic by Reynaldo Dizon because it captures the versatility of grid-scale batteries in the energy transition. The visual metaphor of a useful multitool neatly conveys how batteries serve multiple critical roles, from firming up renewable generation to providing emergency grid support, underscoring their position as an indispensable tool for a resilient energy system.
By breaking down technical functions like frequency regulation, energy arbitrage and load management into clear, accessible categories, the design helps demystify complex grid services. The colour-coded sections also make it easy to see how batteries simultaneously support renewable integration, grid stability and emergency resilience, highlighting their central role in accelerating the shift away from fossil fuels.
Turning data into action
Data highlights
Chinese exports of solar cells are growing rapidly. Our China Solar PV Export Explorer now tracks monthly exports of these products by country
Easily access the most up-to-date dataset of renewable capacity installations through our API. Data tool coming soon!
Explore these prices and their drivers in our prices and costs explorer.
Country spotlight
Batteries met 28% of June evening peak electricity demand in California – not for a single day, but across the whole month. We previously reported on 2024 numbers when batteries reached 18-20% of peak demand in June in our Global Electricity Review 2025. This figure has grown from just 4% in 2022, showing what’s possible in a short time frame in one of the largest power sectors in the world.
Upcoming events
Launch webinars
China Energy Transition Review 2025
Join us on 9 September for the launch of Ember’s China Energy Transition Review 2025, co-hosted with ISETS. Discover how China’s clean electrification boom is meeting demand, nearing fossil’s peak and reshaping global energy futures. Two webinars will unpack the findings across Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas.
The Electrotech Revolution
On 16 September, Kingsmill Bond and the Ember Futures team will reveal how fossil fuel demand is now peaking sector by sector, country by country, as electricity powered by clean sources offers an unprecedented path to energy security.
Ember Current is a revamp of an existing monthly newsletter delivered to our subscribers. Ember Current is written by a different one of our analysts each month, bringing you their own top picks of Ember’s insights and a little window into what has felt important to them over the course of the last few weeks. If you want to receive these updates each month, scroll to the bottom of this page and sign up! For queries and feedback, please reach out to [email protected].
Featured image credits
View Stock / Alamy Stock Photo
Acknowledgements
Claire Kaelin, Chelsea Bruce-Lockhart, Kostantsa Rangelova, Matt Ewen, Shiyao Zhang, Jivan Zhen Thiru, Sachin Sreejith, and Ardhi Arsala Rahmani.
