Renewable energy highlights
11 July 2024
Electricity generation by energy source
Renewable energy sources accounted for 29.1% of electricity generation globally
in 2022, totalling 8 440 TWh. The other 70.9% (20 591 TWh) corresponded to fossil
fuels, nuclear energy, pumped storage and other non-renewables, bringing global
electricity generation from all sources to 29 031 TWh in 2022.
Total electricity generation increased by 2.4% annually since 2011. Renewables
contributed at a rate of 6.1%, while non-renewables showed a 1.3% growth rate. In
2022 alone, renewable electricity grew by 7.2% over 2021. However, there have
been similar and larger annual growth rates over the past decades. Since 2010, the
largest growth in renewable electricity has been driven by solar and wind energy
(variable renewables), which reached 11.7% of the global electricity mix in 2022
with a growth of 18.2% from 2021.
15,543
29,031
18.3%
29.1%
0.2%
11.7
%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
30,000
35,000
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
Share of generation (%)
Electricity Generation (TWh)
Fossil fuels Nuclear Other non-renewables
Pumped storage Renewables % Renewables
% Variable Renewables
2,846
8,440
1.1%
40.2%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
Share of variable renewables
(%)
Renewable electricity generation (TWh)
Hydropower Wind energy Solar energy
Bioenergy Geothermal energy Marine energy
% VRE
Renewable electricity generation by energy source
Over the past decades, the profile of renewable energy sources has significantly diversified. While hydropower
*
continues to provide the bulk of electricity generation, variable renewables have steadily increased their share in
the global electricity mix, growing from 1.1% of renewable generation in 2000 to 40.2% in 2022.
In 2022, hydropower remained the largest source of renewable electricity, generating 4 330 TWh, a modest 0.8%
increase over 2021. Wind energy follows, producing 2 098 TWh, marking a 14.0% increase compared to 2021.
Solar energy, the fastest-growing renewable energy source in recent years, generated 1 294 TWh, a year-on-year
increase of more than one quarter (25.6%). Bioenergy produced 619 TWh, growing by 1.5%, while geothermal
energy contributed 97 TWh and marine energy was close to 1 TWh.
Renewable electricity generation by region
In absolute terms of renewable electricity generation, Asia led the world in 2022, generating 3 749 TWh, a 9.3%
increase driven by solar and hydropower, both offsetting declines in wind energy and bioenergy.
North America came in second for the first time, with 1 493 TWh, up by 8.6% across energy sources, despite a
drop in bioenergy. Europe generated 1 462 TWh a small 0.6% decrease from 2021. South America generated 940
TWh, showing an 11.9% increase from 2021 due to a hydropower recovery and a greater role of solar energy.
Eurasia produced 363 TWh, growing
slightly by 2.5%, with solar and wind
making up for continuous declines in
hydropower. Africa generated 205 TWh,
showing a modest growth of 3.5% across
all sources. Oceania generated 125 TWh,
a robust 14.1% increase across energy
sources. Central America and the
Caribbean followed with 57 TWh with a
1.3% growth. Lastly, the Middle East
generated 47 TWh, seeing a 16.9% rise
due to new wind energy additions and
ongoing solar expansion.
In terms of the electricity mix by region,
South America leads the way with 75.0%
of its electricity coming from renewable
sources, predominantly hydropower,
which accounts for three-quarters of their
renewable energy. Europe follows with
40.5% of its electricity from renewables,
characterized by a more varied mix:
35.7% wind energy, 33.3% hydropower,
16.1% solar, 14.0% bioenergy and 0.8%
geothermal. Central America and the
Caribbean, along with Oceania, both
generate close to 38% of their electricity
from renewables.
In North America, renewables contribute to 27.0% of the electricity mix, while in Asia, the figure is 26.2%. Eurasia
had 23.5% renewable electricity, while Africa had 22.8%. Lastly, the Middle East lags significantly behind, with just
3.4% of its electricity generated from renewables.
*
hydropower (excluding pumped storage)
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
2020
2021
2022
2020
2021
2022
2020
2021
2022
2020
2021
2022
2020
2021
2022
2020
2021
2022
2020
2021
2022
2020
2021
2022
2020
2021
2022
Asia North
America
Europe South
America
Eurasia Africa Oceania Central
America
and the
Caribbean
Middle East
Electricity Generation (PWh)
Hydropower Solar energy Wind energy Bioenergy Geothermal energy Marine energy
The G20 and G7 countries generated mostly non-renewable electricity in 2022 and less renewable electricity than
the global 29.1%. G20 countries produced 28.9% of their electricity with renewable sources, while the G7
generated 28.5% renewable electricity. Both groups have similar breakdowns in renewable sources. Out of all
renewable electricity generated in 2022, G20 countries had 46.3% hydropower, 28.4% wind energy, 16.5% solar
energy, 7.9% bioenergy and traces of geothermal energy. G7 countries had 36.6% hydropower, 33.1% wind
energy, 18.0% solar energy, 9.5% bioenergy and 1.2% of geothermal energy.
Revisions to renewable generating capacity
IRENA’s latest statistics include some minor revisions to the 2023 renewable generating capacity reported in
March 2024. Total renewable generating capacity in 2023 has been revised downwards by 5.2 GW to 3 865 GW.
The decrease occurred due to revisions in hydropower and bioenergy power plants.
The revised figures show that at the end of
2023, renewable capacity accounted for
3.9 TW or 43.0% out of the 9.0 TW of
global total capacity including non-
renewables. It indicates an unprecedented
14.0% increase from 2022. Such growth
established a recent trend of 10.0%
compound annual growth rate (from 2017-
2023). Within renewables, variable
renewable capacity grew by 23.4% over
2022 to reach 27.1% of total capacity.
The rest of installed capacity amounts to
5.1 TW (57.0%) of non-renewable power
comprised of 4.5 TW (50.4%) of fossil fuels, 398 GW (4.4%) of nuclear energy, 142 GW (1.6%) of pumped storage
and 45 GW (0.5%) of other non-renewables. The recent trend sets renewables as the fastest growing capacity
source combined with a slowdown of non-renewables and even large decommissioning of fossil fuel plants in
several countries.
In 2023, solar energy was the largest source of renewable capacity at 36.7% or 1 418 GW, followed by 32.7%
hydropower (1 265 GW), 26.3% wind energy (1 017 GW), 3.9% bioenergy (149 GW) and traces of geothermal and
marine energy. The share of variable renewables (wind and solar) has increased to 63.0% of renewable capacity,
indicating a shift towards these more intermittent energy sources. The status of solar energy as the main source
of capacity is likely to remain in future years, also reflected by its predominance in 347 GW out of 473 GW of
renewable power additions in 2023.
Renewable capacity additions had a
notable increase over the past 23 years,
with 2023 seeing a peak of 473 GW of
new renewable capacity. Moreover, the
share of renewables in annual capacity
additions has steadily increased,
reaching 85.5% in 2023. Non-renewable
capacity additions have remained
relatively constant or decreased over
the years, staying below 80 GW
annually since 2019.
23
20
32 34
40
42
51
63
80
87
105
113
123
133
154
163
171
175
188
271
264
308
473
19
109
121
89
106
140
127 103
120
149
131
104
110
135 93
116
95
135
55
65
70
78
80
42
129
153
122
146
182
179
167
200
237
236
217
233
268
248
278
266
310
243
335 334
386
553
85.5%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
Share of renewables (%)
Installed capacity additions (GW)
Renewables Non-Renewables % Renewables
Reaching the global tripling target of 11.174 TW by 2030
The 473 GW of renewable capacity added in 2023 marked a 14.0% increase and the largest annual growth since
2000. However, this rate is insufficient to meet the tripling renewable capacity target of at least 11 TW by 2030.
Maintaining this growth would yield only 9.7 TW of renewables by 2030, falling 1.5 TW (13.5%) short of the target.
If the historic growth rate of 10.0% since 2017 continues, the world would achieve only 7.5 TW of renewables,
missing the target by 3.7 TW (32.6%). To meet the target required a minimum annual growth rate of 16.1% from
2022 through to 2030. Despite the unprecedented growth in 2023, we still fell short of the growth required to
meet the target. With 2023 as the first year of progress, the world fell short by 2.1 percentage points; this means
that during the remaining years of the target period, renewable capacity must now grow by more than the original
target rate of 16.1% to compensate for this shortfall. A growth rate of 16.4% is now required over the remaining 7
years.
Heat generation
Commercial heat is used for various purposes, and in energy statistics we account for this heat in terms of joules
of sold heat. Among electricity capacity, electricity generation, and heat generation, the latter typically lags in
terms of renewable energy penetration. In 2022, only 6.3% of global heat generation came from renewable
sources, totalling 936 PJ. The remaining 93.7% (13 886 PJ) was generated from fossil fuels, with traces of nuclear
and other non-renewable sources.
The share of renewable heat generation has increased from 2.5% in the year 2000, albeit at a significantly slower
growth rate than electricity. Bioenergy holds the largest share, contributing 91.6% of renewable heat in 2022,
with similar historical rates. Other significant sources include geothermal and solar thermal energy. Europe leads
the way in renewable heat generation, accounting for 92.1% of the global renewable heat generation and with a
renewable share of 10.7% of the 8 028 PJ of heat generated in the region. Asia generated 6 351 PJ of heat in 2022,
but less than 1% came from renewable sources. Finally, the Americas produced 443 PJ of heat in 2022, with 9.2%
from renewable sources.
Other renewable energy information
IRENA produces renewable energy balances for a select number of countries. These are available for the latest
two years of information (2021 and 2022) in the report and for a wider number of years on the online tools.
Finally, data for the SDG indicators 7.a.1 (international public financial flows toward renewables) and 7.b.1
(renewable installed capacity per capita) are also included in the report.
For any inquiries or questions, please contact us at [email protected].
