MENA+ is investing in renewables nearly twice as fast as the rest of the world

The United States may be backing away from renewable energy, but it’s an increasingly key component of MENA+’s energy mix, according to our analysis of a report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (pdf). Across the region, new capacity is coming online at a rate that sharply outpaces the global average.

2025 was a killer year for renewables in our region: Renewable energy capacity in the MENA region (including Iran) surged 25% y-o-y to 64.6 GW in installed capacity in 2025. Most of the new capacity was in solar, which accounted for 92% of the added capacity at about 11.8 GW.

Saudi Arabia was the star of the year with a 87% y-o-y rise to 12.3 GW, almost all of it in solar), followed by Egypt (+20% to 9.3 GW, driven by both wind and solar) and the UAE (7.9 GW, a 15% increase).

Oman and Qatar grew faster, but from a very low base: Each has les than 2 GW of installed capacity. Morocco, traditionally a steady renewables player, saw growth slow to just 4% last year.

In context: Global growth in renewable energy generation capacity clocked in at 15.5% last year, with some 693 GW added — about three-quarters of it was solar.

This year’s growth figure could be dented by fallout from the war in the Gulf: Solar and wind buildouts are heavily dependent on predictable supply chains. Solar remains reliant on imported hardware — mainly from China — while wind components are a logistics headache even in stable times given the complexity of getting turbine blades from point A to point B. Renewable energy components face the same transport snags and insurance premiums that other industries do, and delays create sequencing problems for installation schedules.

We don’t see any change in the long-term trend: The disruption to the global energy market thanks to the war and the closure of Hormuz exposed the vulnerability of an energy system still structurally anchored to fossil fuels. Every supply disruption, shipping scare, and oil-price spike reinforces the economic case for accelerating the buildout of clean energy.