IRENA Reports that Renewable Energy Accounts for a Third of Global Power Capacity

International Renewable Energy Agency reports that hydropower accounts for the largest share around half of the total energy supply. Wind and solar energy account for most of the remaining half, backing a trend to move away from fossil fuel.

International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), a global intergovernmental organization that supports countries in their transition to a sustainable energy future, released its yearly IRENA’s annual Renewable Capacity Statistics 2019, which reveals that the annual increase of 7.9 percent was bolstered by new additions from solar and wind energy, which accounted for 84 percent of the growth. A third of global power capacity is now based on renewable energy and is moving away from non-renewable energy.  The full report is available here. Highlights of key findings can be found here.

Asia Leading the Way. The U.S. is trailing behind in solar and hydropower but growing its wind energy share.

While Asia accounted for 61 percent of total new renewable energy installations and grew installed renewables capacity by 11.4 percent, growth was fastest in Oceania that witnessed a 17.7 percent rise in 2018. Africa’s 8.4 percent growth put it in third place just behind Asia. Nearly two-thirds of all new power generation capacity added in 2018 was from renewables, led by emerging and developing economies, leaving the U.S. trailing behind.

“Through its compelling business case, renewable energy has established itself as the technology of choice for new power generation capacity,” said in a press statement IRENA Director-General Adnan Z. Amin. “The strong growth in 2018 continues the remarkable trend of the last five years, which reflects an ongoing shift towards renewable power as the driver of global energy transformation.

Wind farm in Palm Springs California.
Wind farm in Palm Springs California.

Highlights by technology:

• Hydropower: Growth in hydro continued to slow in 2018, with only China adding a significant amount of new capacity in 2018 (+8.5 GW).

• Wind energy: Global wind energy capacity increased by 49 GW in 2017. China and the USA continued to account for the greatest share of wind energy expansion, with increases of 20 GW and 7 GW respectively. Other countries expanding by more than 1 GW were: Brazil; France; Germany; India; and the UK

• Bioenergy: Three countries accounted for over half of the relatively low level of bioenergy capacity expansion in 2018. China increased capacity by 2 GW and India by 700 MW. Capacity also increased in the UK by 900 MW

• Solar energy: Solar energy capacity increased by 94 GW last year (+ 24 per cent). Asia continued to dominate global growth with a 64 GW increase (about 70% of the global expansion in 2018). Maintaining the trend from last year, China, India, Japan and Republic of Korea accounted for most of this. Other major increases were in the USA (+8.4 GW), Australia (+3.8 GW) and Germany (+3.6 GW). Other countries with significant expansions in 2018 included: Brazil; Egypt; Pakistan; Mexico, Turkey and the Netherlands.

• Geothermal energy: Geothermal energy increased by 539 MW in 2018, with most of the expansion taking place in Turkey (+219 MW) and Indonesia (+137 MW), followed by the USA, Mexico and New Zealand.

The press statement states that “globally, total renewable energy generation capacity reached 2,351 GW at the end of last year – around a third of total installed electricity capacity. Hydropower accounts for the largest share with an installed capacity of 1 172 GW – around half of the total. Wind and solar energy account for most of the remainder with capacities of 564 GW and 480 GW respectively. Other renewables included 121 GW of bioenergy, 13 GW of geothermal energy and 500 MW of marine energy (tide, wave, and ocean energy).”

“Renewable energy deployment needs to grow even faster, however, to ensure that we can achieve the global climate objectives and Sustainable Development Goals,” said Mr. Amin. “Countries taking full advantage of their renewables potential will benefit from a host of socioeconomic benefits in addition to decarbonizing economies.”


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