4 key trends to watch in clean energy technology in 2025 

The year 2024 saw an impressive acceleration of investment in clean energy solutions despite the increased cost of financing and geopolitical headwinds. The year was the first of many in which investment in solar photovoltaic ($500 billion) surpassed all other generation sources.

Investment in battery storage grew by more than 20% and exceeded $50 billion. The sectors involved in clean hydrogen and sustainable aviation fuels announced projects and offtakes while advanced nuclear regained momentum.

Rapid cost reduction drove much of the growth, making project economics increasingly attractive. Of all the emerging technologies, energy storage has made great strides. The cost of lithium-ion batteries has dropped more than 90% over the last decade, and in 2024 alone, it fell 40%.

At the same time, the rise in clean energy spending is also underpinned by strategic elements: major economies are deploying new industrial strategies to spur clean energy manufacturing and establish stronger market positions.

These shifts set a very dynamic context for 2025. Here are our top four things to watch.

Connections between energy, trade and manufacturing are deepening. The new emerging energy economy presents major opportunities for countries looking to manufacture clean technologies, their components and related materials.

Increasingly, governments and populations value things such as jobs, manufacturing, energy security and cost; they prioritize these over emissions reduction.

In 2025, governments will further shape energy transition policies to support their industrial and economic ambitions.

We will see broader, more integrated policies targeting jobs, investment and advanced energy investments’ broader economic impact.

The computational power needed to sustain AI’s growth doubles roughly every 100 days, driving an exponential increase in the number of data centres required globally and associated energy use.

AI and data centres will thus become a key driver for electricity demand growth.

It is not just about volume but also timing and location. Data centres need a reliable, stable power supply around the clock, challenging the industry’s emissions reduction goals. Hence, there will be a race to find and acquire data centre sites with abundant, clean, and reliable energy supplies at scale.

In the big tech industry, the last 12 months have seen increasing investment in advanced nuclear solutions, from small modular reactors to fusion. However, these promising options will only be able to deliver energy in the 2030s.

Driven by immediate needs, the industry in 2025 will also be increasingly deploying currently available solutions, such as storage, clean hydrogen and wind and solar.

In the past one to two years, attitudes toward nuclear energy have significantly shifted. Today, at a societal level, many activists agree with pragmatists that nuclear energy is an integral part of the energy transition.

Energy needs are growing fast in the economy, driven by AI, population, and economic growth. At the technological level, small modular reactors and fusion present advanced options. This has created momentum, and many people are talking about nuclear renaissance.

However, so many pieces need to fall into place, from skills to regulations to financing and the industry often still faces many of its old challenges. In 2025, we will see government and industry action to accelerate the nuclear renaissance in “old” nuclear countries, such as France and the United States and new entrants, including Poland.

The clean energy sector has been continuously innovating and will accelerate further in 2025.

This is reflected in increasing investment and public budget allocations for research and development in energy, which aims to improve technical parameters and efficiencies, drive costs down, mature emerging technologies, and invent future technologies.

Mature technologies such as solar photovoltaic and wind turbines have gone through this journey over previous decades. Emerging technologies such as batteries, electrolyzers and carbon management solutions are experiencing their own innovation paths, although with even greater urgency and growth rates.

The World Economic Forum supports an integrated approach to energy solutions, including energy storage, advanced nuclear, clean fuels, hydrogen, and carbon removal. No single technology will solve the energy transition alone; a mix of solutions will be needed.

Different regions, industries and companies will have their strategies but they must work together.

Platforms, such as the Forum’s Advanced Energy Solutions community, can help speed up this cooperation and accelerate the deployment of new technologies, such as energy storage, clean fuels, hydrogen, advanced nuclear and carbon removal, from decades to years.

The community engages industry leaders who drive frontier segments of the energy system to shape the advanced energy solutions industry vision and narrative. It supports partnerships among innovators, large energy companies, energy users and investors and informs policymaking.