Global warming is accelerating, while reliance on fossil fuels continues to create environmental and economic risks. Although coal, oil, and gas dominate the global energy sector, the adoption of renewable sources has grown rapidly in the last 15 years.

The growth is strongly dependent on increased solar and wind capacity. But digital solutions such as power plant monitoring systems and battery management platforms play a significant role too. Software is becoming a crucial factor in improving the efficiency, reliability, and scalability of renewable energy infrastructure.

In this article, we explore the renewable energy market trends and examine how digital solutions can speed up the transition to a low-carbon energy system.

How Does the Renewable Industry Look Now?

The world’s total renewable capacity has reached nearly 5,800 GW in 2025, with an increase from around 4,200 GW in 2023. Now the entire industry grows about 30% in a year, but it’s not at its peak. By 2030, the CAGR could reach 42–45%. 

Solar PV is the leading technology. By the end of 2025, there were over 1,865 GW of installed solar capacity globally. Hydropower ranked second with around 1,283 GW, while wind power completed the top three with approximately 1,133 GW of installed capacity. Other sources (bioenergy, geothermal, and marine) account for smaller portions of the total energy production. 

The future of renewable energy faced a bunch of difficult challenges in 2025: supply chain bottlenecks, inflation, long permitting, and grid connection wait times. That’s why experts expect strong renewable power generation expansion, as policies in both advanced and developing countries have partly addressed these barriers. The most significant impact is expected in Africa, the Middle East, ASEAN countries, and Latin America, in addition to Europe, India, and China.

In the first half of 2025, wind and solar energy production surpassed coal generation for the first time globally. This milestone reflects a crucial shift in electricity supply, even though the pace of change varies by region.

Asia showed the fastest rates of renewable facilities deployment. China alone is responsible for a significant share of global additions, accounting for roughly 64 % of global renewable capacity growth in 2024, driven primarily by solar installations. India also recorded significant expansion in 2025, adding a record 44.5 GW of new renewable capacity, bringing 262.7 GW in total as of late 2025. 

But the future of renewable energy technologies is uneven. While Asia leads in absolute capacity increases, Europe and North America develop new facilities much more slowly (about 12 % and 7.8 % respectively, in 2024). The worst situation in the renewable energy sector is in sub-Saharan Africa. Lots of issues and delays in auction implementation for solar PV and geothermal facilities have led to a 5% downward forecast revision.

World Energy Investment shows that capital flows to the energy sector are set to rise in 2025 to $3.3 trillion, a 2% rise in real terms in 2024. Around $2.2 trillion is going collectively to renewables, nuclear, grids, storage, low-emissions fuels, efficiency, and electrification, twice as much as the $1.1 trillion going to oil, natural gas, and coal. Solar and wind remain the primary beneficiaries of these investments, driven by both policy incentives and competitive levelized costs. 

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The Role of Software in Renewable Energy

Renewable power facilities produce a huge amount of data. That’s why they require continuous monitoring and optimization. Digitalization is now essential to maintaining grid stability as variable renewables scale.

Here are the most significant pros of software in renewable energy trends:

As renewable penetration accelerates, software is forming the future of renewable energy in the world. Advanced digital platforms unlock higher efficiency, lower operational costs, and greater system flexibility, providing accurate forecasting, intelligent storage dispatch, and reliable grid integration. 

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Energy Management Software Solutions: Ready-Made Solutions vs Custom Solutions

As global renewable capacity is projected to exceed 12 TW by 2030, traditional operational methods are increasingly unable to manage variability and complexity at scale. Full-fledged software solutions are now essential in designing, deploying, and maintaining renewable capacities to make them efficient, stable, and less pricey. In the following section, we highlight the key renewable energy industry trends in 2026.

Intelligent forecasting and analytics

ML and AI algorithms are already widely used across various industries and businesses, but in the renewable energy sector, they are only beginning to be actively implemented. Accurate forecasts enable better planning, reduce uncertainty, and improve grid stability by aligning supply with demand.

The global Artificial Intelligence in renewable energy market was valued at $20.63 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $26.30 billion in 2026, growing at a CAGR of 25.65%.

65 % of renewable energy companies already use AI for predictive maintenance. But still, most of them implement only separate solutions and tools without designing full-fledged systems. Moreover, 80% of the remaining facilities plan to use AI for data analysis and insights in the next 1-3 years.

Rising integration of AI modules into grid management and energy storage dispatch systems will push facilities to create complex software to increase efficiency, reliability, and profitability. 

In 2026, we can expect a faster shift from isolated AI tools toward fully integrated intelligent platforms that combine forecasting, predictive maintenance, real-time optimization, and energy storage management.

Integration of digital twins

A digital twin is a high‑fidelity virtual replica of a physical asset, process, or system. In the energy sector, digital twins mirror generation assets (e.g., wind turbines, PV arrays) and grid infrastructure, enabling simulation, real‑time monitoring, and predictive analysis of system behavior under various conditions. 

Digital twins allow operators to test different operational strategies virtually before applying them in the real world, reducing risks and optimizing performance. For example, they could:

  • simulate varying weather conditions to plan optimal dispatch,
  • predict equipment degradation and schedule maintenance proactively,
  • evaluate grid expansion and integration scenarios without service interruptions. 

Digital twins are considered to be one of the most promising technologies in the renewable energy sector. Separate sustainable energy research notes that digital twin adoption in renewable energy projects is growing at a 22 % CAGR, driven by asset optimization and risk mitigation needs. 

IoT automation and smart grids for energy system operations

Automation in energy systems leverages IoT sensors, edge computing, and cloud analytics to collect data from distributed assets in real time. These data streams feed control systems that execute automated actions such as adjusting output, reconfiguring networks, or dispatching storage without human intervention. 

The residential penetration of electric smart meters today is 52% (1.05 billion units). It’s expected to increase to 75% by 2028 (1.57 billion). Enterprise penetration sits at 57% (127 million) but is projected to rise to 80% (184 million). The trend is still strong, because automation enabled by IoT and smart networks transforms passive energy infrastructure into self‑regulating, resilient systems that can manage variability without constant manual control. With automation:

  • Operators gain real‑time visibility and automated response to grid events (e.g., sudden load changes, generation dips).
  • Consumers benefit from improved reliability, reduced outages, and advanced demand response frameworks that can lower energy costs.
  • Smart grids also support two‑way communication between utilities and prosumers, enabling local balancing and peak shaving.

Real‑time automated grid control, enabled by IoT sensors, communication networks, and AI orchestration, is already standard practice in advanced energy systems. But in 2026, it’s expected to be a must-have way to design renewable energy capacities. 

Custom Software for the Renewable Energy Revolution

Solar. Wind. EV Charging. Storage. We transform energy operations with intelligent software solutions that optimize performance and maximize ROI.

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Solutions for energy storage

Battery energy storage systems (BESS) help to bridge the temporal mismatch between renewable generation capacities and demand. Still, their extensive use involves some challenges like high capital cost, degradation over time, and the need for intelligent dispatch strategies to maximize economic benefit and service life. 

Software‑driven optimization can increase the lifetime profitability of BESS by 24.9–29.3% compared with rule‑based strategies. This comes from improved arbitrage performance, reduced cycling costs, and enhanced participation in ancillary markets.

Software that incorporates AI‑based scheduling and optimization becomes an essential tool helping to control, balance, and optimize BESS capabilities. For example:

  • optimal charge/discharge decisions to capture price arbitrage opportunities,
  • coordinated dispatch with grid conditions to reduce curtailment,
  • degradation‑aware operation that extends battery life and lowers overall cost.

Optimization approaches significantly enhance storage operation planning and can improve long‑term system performance.

In 2026, BESS signifies a structural shift: from storage being a capacity buffer to storage being a dynamic economic asset driven by software. 

Cybersecurity in energy platforms

In 2024, cyberattacks on American utilities increased by almost 70% compared to 2023, with an average of 1,162 attacks during the year, compared to 689 in 2023. In 2025, it increased by another 9%. 

In 2025, in 46% of tested environments, at least one password hash was successfully cracked, and the prevalence of infostealer malware tripled compared to previous years, highlighting the rising credential‑theft risk across enterprise and industrial systems. Attackers actively target energy infrastructure, as it often uses outdated software and complex IoT/SCADA networks. European energy companies also faced significant OT/ICS attack pressure, with the number of incidents in 2023 exceeding many other industries.

As energy systems digitize, cybersecurity becomes a fundamental requirement and must be integrated from design through operations. Malfunctions in large energy facilities may lead to instability on regional or even national levels. 

These are the main risk factors of renewable generation capacities:

  • Unauthorized access to grid control systems leading to false commands.
  • Ransomware attacks on energy infrastructure (critical in utility grids).
  • Data breaches exposing operational forecasts or customer data.
  • Compromised IoT endpoints being used to launch broader attacks.

While the implementation of IEC 62443 and NIST cybersecurity frameworks for industrial control systems is effective, they must be properly adopted to withstand continuously improving hacking tactics and tools. That’s why 2026 will be the year of cybersecurity in renewable energy platforms.

The Techstack Perspective: Building Software for Renewable Energy Systems

At Techstack, we approach renewable energy software as critical infrastructure, not just another digital product. We design and build custom software platforms for renewable energy operators, utilities, and cleantech companies, combining real-time data processing, AI-driven optimization, and secure edge-to-cloud architectures to improve efficiency, resilience, and scalability across energy systems.

A strong example is our work on renewable energy management platforms designed to address the operational complexity of distributed generation assets. Many energy companies rely on fragmented tools and delayed reporting, which limits their ability to respond to variability in generation, grid constraints, and market signals. What they need instead is real-time, system-level intelligence that connects assets, storage, and grid interfaces into a single operational view.

We engineer software systems that continuously ingest data from solar, wind, and storage assets; process it at the edge and in the cloud; and deliver actionable insights to operators in near real time. AI-powered forecasting and analytics modules predict generation and demand, detect anomalies, and recommend optimal dispatch strategies, enabling faster decisions and more stable operations.

Critically, the impact is driven by a fully integrated energy software stack, not by isolated algorithms. Our solutions typically include:

  • Edge data acquisition and control layers integrated with inverters, turbines, sensors, and SCADA systems for reliable, low-latency data flow.
  • AI and ML models for generation forecasting, anomaly detection, and asset performance optimization, deployed where latency and reliability matter most.
  • Cloud-native platforms for data orchestration, system-wide analytics, digital twin simulation, and portfolio-level optimization.
  • Operator-focused interfaces designed for clarity and fast decision-making in high-stakes energy operations.
  • Security-by-design architectures aligned with IEC 62443 and NIST standards to protect critical energy infrastructure.

We deliver these platforms end-to-end, without requiring clients to build internal data science or energy software teams from scratch. A dedicated cross-functional Techstack team takes each solution from concept and system design to production deployment.

The result is software that moves renewable energy operations from manual, reactive workflows to intelligent, automated, and scalable systems. These platforms not only reduce operational risk and costs today, but also form the foundation for future growth, supporting higher renewable penetration, advanced storage integration, and smarter grids.

Techstack has had several successful projects in the energy sector. Here are some of them:

  • Energy storage system for solar energy. Our task was to design a new system that could be integrated harmoniously with solar panels, batteries, and PV inverters. The product needed to cater to the specific needs of our partner and be seamlessly integrated within the existing energy infrastructure as well as the energy management system. Read more.
  • The solar energy data portal. We built a solar energy production platform for collecting and storing solar energy from different vendors. We developed a complex solution for collecting data on an hourly basis and historical data. We created data storage with fast and robust functionality for data aggregation on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. The monitoring and analytics are based on energy production data by region and inverter statuses. Read more. 
  • Energy balancing platform to maximize energy efficiency. Our partner came to us with a groundbreaking idea: building an energy balancing system optimized for off-peak periods. The goal was clear: to enter and transform the Finnish energy market with a cost-effective energy balancing solution. The MVP we developed focused on key features necessary for a proof of concept in efficient energy balancing. Read more. 

This is how Techstack turns renewable energy insight into implementation: by engineering software that works where reliability, performance, and impact truly matter. Leave us a message to schedule a discovery call.