Energy Transition

Renewables Cross Historic Coal Generation Threshold While Grid Bottlenecks Emerge

Wednesday, March 4, 2026

Global renewable energy surpassed coal-fired power generation for the first time in H1 2025, with solar up 31% and wind up 7.7%. However, this supply-side dominance is revealing critical infrastructure constraints, as Western US transmission requires 12,600+ miles of new high-voltage lines by 2035 to handle load growth and renewable integration.

The transition has reached grid-scale tipping point but infrastructure bottlenecks now represent the primary constraint on deployment speed and reliability.

renewables
coal
grid
transmission