Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Year in Review
  • Published:

Renewable integration and AI demand reshaped power grids in 2025

Nature Reviews Clean Technology volume 2, pages 13–14 (2026) Cite this article

Subjects

The importance of renewable integration into grids came to the forefront in 2025. New challenges in stability, storage, artificial intelligence demand and policy changes defined a year that tested whether power systems can become reliable, flexible and equitable in a net-zero world.

Key advances

  • Global renewable electricity generation was greater than coal generation for the first time1.

  • Investment and research into long-duration energy storage technology have become key to global grid decarbonization projects4.

  • Surging artificial intelligence demand is leading to investments in firm, low-carbon power8,9.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Wiatros-Motyka, M. & Rangelova, K. Global Electricity Mid-Year Insights 2025 (Ember, 2025).

  2. ICS Investigation Expert Panel. 28 April 2025 blackout. ENTSO-E https://www.entsoe.eu/publications/blackout/28-april-2025-iberian-blackout/ (2025).

  3. International Energy Agency. Electricity Mid-Year Update 2025 (IEA, 2025).

  4. Dowling, J. A. et al. Role of long-duration energy storage in variable renewable electricity systems. Joule 4, 1907–1928 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Jenkins, J., Farbes, J. & Haley, B. Impacts of the One Big Beautiful Bill on the US energy transition – summary report. Zenodo https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15801701 (2025).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. International Energy Agency. World Energy Investment 2025 (IEA, 2025).

  7. Jones, D. The first evidence of a take-off in solar in Africa. EMBER https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/the-first-evidence-of-a-take-off-in-solar-in-africa/ (2025).

  8. Shehabi, A. et al. 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report https://doi.org/10.71468/P1WC7Q (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2024).

  9. Liu, S., He, G., Qiu, M. & Kammen, D. M. China reins in the spiralling construction costs of nuclear power — what can other countries learn? Nature 643, 1186–1188 (2025).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Muratori, M. et al. Trends and 2025 insights on the rise of electric vehicles in the USA. Nat. Rev. Clean Technol. 1, 827–845 (2025).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The author thanks the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and ClimateWorks Foundation for the support of research at the Deep Energy and Climate Policy Lab.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marxe School of Public and International Affairs, Baruch College, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA

    Gang He  (何钢)

  2. CUNY Institute for Demographic Research, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA

    Gang He  (何钢)

  3. Earth and Environmental Sciences, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA

    Gang He  (何钢)

Authors
  1. Gang He  (何钢)
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gang He  (何钢).

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

He, G. Renewable integration and AI demand reshaped power grids in 2025. Nat. Rev. Clean Technol. 2, 13–14 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44359-025-00136-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Version of record:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44359-025-00136-z

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing