- Remember the chart (on the right) from the IEA, that we showed after its publication only last October? It showed Thailand almost bottom of the world in its use of variable renewable energy to produce electricity, despite the abundance of sunshine.
- But after a pause in solar investment which had lasted since 2018, provisional data shows a sharp increase in 2025, more than doubling the cumulative installed capacity of solar. Only data to end-November is available, leaving full-year figures to come, but the omens are now good.
VRE = Variable Renewable Energy, including both solar and wind, which leads to comparisons of country performance with different natural resources.
Countries selected by the IEA as illustrative.
Thailand is shown second from bottom on the left. The order of classification is based on 2030 forecasts. Based on 2024 actual figures, Thailand would be only marginally higher in the classification.
Source: Renewables 2025, published October 2025
And meanwhile, global enthusiasm for the sustainability benefits of solar energy is growing, and will receive a further boost from the supply problems of oil and natural gas from the Gulf states. The economic benefits were already clear, and the Financial Times article, quoted above, points out that battery storage costs have declined by 93% since 2010, bringing it within economic reach. No wonder that Elon Musk is quoted as saying “compared to the sun, all other energy sources are like cavemen throwing twigs into a fire”.