New report: renewable energy now accounts for one-third of global energy capacity



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This exciting new international report shows that renewable energy now accounts for one-third of the world's energy capacity.

The trend of strong growth in renewable energy capacity observed over the past decade has continued in 2018 with global additions of 171 gigawatts, according to new data released by the International Energy Agency. renewable (IRENA) earlier this week.

The annual increase of 7.9% was supported by new acquisitions of solar and wind energy, which accounted for 84% of growth.

Annual IRENA 2019 Renewable Capacity Statistics, the most comprehensive, up-to-date and accessible figures on renewable energy capacity, indicate growth in all regions of the world, even at varying speeds. While Asia accounted for 61% of total new renewable energy installations and increased installed capacity by 11.4%, growth was fastest in Oceania, up 17.7% in 2018. Africa ranked third with an 8.4% growth all new electricity generation capacity added in 2018 came from renewable energies, led by emerging economies and in development.

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"Through its compelling business case, renewable energy has been imposed as the technology of choice for new power generation capacity," said IRENA Chief Executive Officer. , Adnan Z. Amin. "The strong growth in 2018 fits into the remarkable trend of the last five years, which reflects the steady evolution towards renewable energy as the engine of global energy transformation."

"However, the deployment of renewable energy needs to grow even faster so that we can achieve global climate goals and sustainable development goals," said Amin. "Countries that make full use of their renewable energy potential will benefit from a host of socio-economic benefits in addition to decarbonising their economies."

Hydropower growth continued to slow in 2018, only China added a significant amount of new capacity in 2018 (+8.5 GW).

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Global wind power capacity increased by 49 GW in 2018. China and the United States continued to account for the largest share of wind energy expansion, with respective increases. 20 GW and 7 GW. Other countries that have expanded their wind power capacity by more than 1 GW include Brazil, France, Germany, India and the United Kingdom.

Solar power capacity increased by 94 GW last year (+ 24%), with Asia continuing to dominate global growth with an increase of 64 GW (about 70% of global expansion in 2018). China, India, Japan and the Republic of Korea maintained the trend over last year, mainly. Other major increases were registered in the United States (+8.4 GW), Australia (+3.8 GW) and Germany (+3.6 GW). Other countries with significant expansion in 2018 include Brazil, Egypt, Pakistan, Mexico, Turkey and the Netherlands.

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Finally, geothermal energy increased by 539 MW in 2018, mainly in Turkey (+219 MW) and Indonesia (+137 MW), followed by the United States, Mexico and New Zealand.

On a global scale, total renewable energy generation capacity reached 2,351 GW by the end of last year, about one third of the total installed electricity capacity. Hydropower accounts for the largest share with an installed capacity of 1,172 GW – about half of the total. Wind and solar power account for the bulk of the rest, with respective capacities of 564 GW and 480 GW. Other renewable energies included 121 GW of bioenergy, 13 GW of geothermal energy and 500 MW of marine energy (tidal, wave and ocean energy).

The full report is available here and other highlights of the main findings are available here.

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