Released June 28, 2024 | SUGAR LAND
en
Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Global renewable electric generation capacity hit a new record in 2023, according to the Statistical Review of World Energy 2024. Hydroelectric generation, combined with solar and wind generation, accounted for 30% of the world's installed electric generation capacity in 2023, up from 29% in 2022, said the report, which was released June 20. The report was prepared by the Energy Institute (London, England), with assistance from KPMG (Amstelveen, Netherlands) and Kearney (Chicago, Illinois).
Demand for electricity around the world grew 2.5% in 2023 to reach a record level of 29,925 terawatt-hours (TWh), the report said. That 2.5% growth rate was about 25% higher than last year's 2% growth in primary energy use, which, the report's authors said, means the world's energy system is increasingly electrifying.
In 2023, overall electricity demand growth was highest in the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions, each of which grew about 5% last year. But electricity demand last year fell approximately 2.4% in Europe and 1% in North America compared to 2022. The report attributed this decline to energy-efficiency regulations, energy-efficient lighting and changing consumer habits.
The report estimated worldwide primary energy demand reached about 620 exajoules (EJ) last year. Roughly 51 EJ of that energy was supplied by solar, wind and biomass while hydroelectric generation contributed about 40 EJ.
Click on the image below to see the absolute and percentage contribution of renewable energy to worldwide primary energy demand.
Focusing only on electricity, the statistical report noted that about 60% of the world's electricity in 2023 was generated by fossil fuels: coal accounted for about 35% while 23% came from natural gas and slightly over 2% came from oil. Solar and wind combined generated about 16% of the world's electricity last year while hydro produced about 14%. Nuclear accounted for over 9% of electricity produced in 2023.
Click on the image at right to see how the world generated its electricity in 2023.
The installed generation capacity of solar and wind continued to grow rapidly in 2023: those capacity additions totaled about 462 gigawatts (GW) last year, a 67% increase over 2022's then-record jump of approximately 276 GW, the Statistical Review said. Solar generation accounted for about 75% of the year-over-year capacity gains, or roughly 346 GW. New-build wind generation contributed a record of slightly over 115 GW.
China was the largest market for new solar and wind generation capacity additions last year: It accounted for about 25% of the world's new solar generation in 2023 and approximately 66% of new wind generation.
These are the countries with the largest amount of installed solar capacity in 2023, comprising photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP), according to the report:
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).
Demand for electricity around the world grew 2.5% in 2023 to reach a record level of 29,925 terawatt-hours (TWh), the report said. That 2.5% growth rate was about 25% higher than last year's 2% growth in primary energy use, which, the report's authors said, means the world's energy system is increasingly electrifying.
In 2023, overall electricity demand growth was highest in the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions, each of which grew about 5% last year. But electricity demand last year fell approximately 2.4% in Europe and 1% in North America compared to 2022. The report attributed this decline to energy-efficiency regulations, energy-efficient lighting and changing consumer habits.
The report estimated worldwide primary energy demand reached about 620 exajoules (EJ) last year. Roughly 51 EJ of that energy was supplied by solar, wind and biomass while hydroelectric generation contributed about 40 EJ.
Focusing only on electricity, the statistical report noted that about 60% of the world's electricity in 2023 was generated by fossil fuels: coal accounted for about 35% while 23% came from natural gas and slightly over 2% came from oil. Solar and wind combined generated about 16% of the world's electricity last year while hydro produced about 14%. Nuclear accounted for over 9% of electricity produced in 2023.
The installed generation capacity of solar and wind continued to grow rapidly in 2023: those capacity additions totaled about 462 gigawatts (GW) last year, a 67% increase over 2022's then-record jump of approximately 276 GW, the Statistical Review said. Solar generation accounted for about 75% of the year-over-year capacity gains, or roughly 346 GW. New-build wind generation contributed a record of slightly over 115 GW.
China was the largest market for new solar and wind generation capacity additions last year: It accounted for about 25% of the world's new solar generation in 2023 and approximately 66% of new wind generation.
These are the countries with the largest amount of installed solar capacity in 2023, comprising photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP), according to the report:
- China, with 609,921 MW of solar that includes 609,351 MW of PV and 570 MW of CSP
- United States had 139,205 MW of solar comprising 137,725 MW of PV and 1,480 MW of CSP
- Japan, with 87,068 MW of solar, all of it PV
- Germany had 81,739 MW of solar generation consisting of 81,737 MW of PV and 2 MW of CSP
- India had 73,109 MW of solar, comprising 72,767 MW of PV and 343 MW of CSP
- Brazil, with 37,449 MW of solar, all of it PV
- Australia had 33,683 MW of solar, which includes 33,680 MW of PV and 3 MW of CSP
- China had 441,895 MW of wind generation, comprising 404,605 MW of onshore generation and 37,290 of offshore generation
- The U.S. had 148,020 MW of wind generation, broken down as 147,979 MW of onshore and 41 MW of offshore
- Germany had 69,459 MW of wind generation, which included 61,052 MW of onshore and 8,407 MW of offshore
- India, with a total of 44,736 MW of wind capacity, all of which was onshore generation
- Spain had 31,028 MW of wind generation, composed of 31,021 MW of onshore and 7 MW of offshore
- The U.K. had a total of 30,205 MW of wind generation, comprising 15,470 MW of onshore and 14,747 MW of offshore
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).
