According to new data released by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) the decade-long trend of strong growth in renewable energy capacity continued in 2018 with global additions of 171 gigawatts (GW ).
The annual increase of 7.9 per cent was bolstered by new additions from solar and wind energy, which accounted for 84 per cent of the growth.
IRENA said A third of global power capacity was now based on renewable energy.
The massive and rapid deployment of renewable energy is essential for the international community to achieve the central goal of the United Nations sponsored Paris Agreement on climate change.
The Paris Agreement aim is to hold the global average temperature rise to as close as possible to 1.5 degrees Celsius, which is crucial to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
Last week, the International Energy Agency (IEA) reported that energy demand worldwide grew by 2.3 per cent last year, with fossil fuels meeting nearly 70 per cent of the growth for the second year running, its fastest pace this decade.
This drove up global energy-related CO2 emissions by 1.7% compared to the year before.
IRENA’s annual Renewable Capacity Statistics 2019, the most comprehensive, up-to-date and accessible figures on renewable energy capacity indicated growth in all regions of the world, although at varying speeds.
While Asia accounted for 61 per cent of total new renewable energy installations and grew installed renewable energy capacity by 11.4 per cent, growth was fastest in Oceania, which witnessed a 17.7 per cent rise in 2018.
Africa’s 8.4 per cent growth put it in third place just behind Asia.
Nearly two-thirds of all new power generation capacity added in 2018 was from renewable energy, led by emerging and developing economies.
“Through its compelling business case, renewable energy has established itself as the technology of choice for new power generation capacity,” said 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.
“Renewable energy deployment needs to grow even faster, however, to ensure that we can achieve the global climate objectives and Sustainable Development Goals,” continued Mr Amin.
“Countries taking full advantage of their renewable energy potential will benefit from a host of socioeconomic benefits in addition to decarbonising their economies.”
IRENA’s analysis also compared the growth in generation capacity of renewable energy versus non-renewable energy, mainly fossil-fuels and nuclear.
While non-renewable generation capacity has decreased in Europe, North America and Oceania by about 85GW since 2010, it has increased in both Asia and the Middle East over the same period.
Since 2000, non-renewable generation capacity has expanded by about 115GW a year (on average), with no discernible trend upwards or downwards.
Highlights by technology:
- Hydropower: Growth in hydro continued to slow in 2018, with only China adding a significant amount of new capacity in 2018 (+8.5GW).
- Wind energy: Global wind energy capacity increased by 49GW in 2018. China and the US continued to account for the greatest share of wind energy expansion, with increases of 20GW and 7.0GW respectively. Other countries expanding by more than 1.0GW 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 2.0GW and India by 700MW. Capacity also increased in the UK by 900MW
- Solar energy: Solar energy capacity increased by 94GW last year (+ 24 per cent). Asia continued to dominate global growth with a 64GW increase (about 70 per cent 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 US (+8.4GW), Australia (+3.8 GW) and Germany (+3.6GW). Other countries with significant expansions in 2018 included: Brazil; Egypt; Pakistan; Mexico, Turkey and the Netherlands.
- Geothermal energy: Geothermal energy increased by 539MW in 2018, with most of the expansion taking place in Turkey (+219MW) and Indonesia (+137MW), followed by the USA, Mexico and New Zealand.
Globally, total renewable energy generation capacity reached 2351GW 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 1172GW, around half of the total.
Wind and solar energy account for most of the remainder with capacities of 564GW and 480GW respectively.
Other renewable energy included 121GW of bioenergy, 13GW of geothermal energy and 500MW of marine energy (tide, wave and ocean energy).
The full report is available here.
Highlights of key findings can be found here.
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