The share of solar energy in global electricity generation rose from 5.6 percent to 6.9 percent last year. Solar power production has doubled in the last three years to over 2,000 terawatt hours (TWh). This is reported by the British think tank Ember in the sixth edition of its “Global Electricity Review”.
For the third time in a row, solar energy was the world’s largest source of new electricity generation (up 474 terawatt hours) and the fastest growing source of electricity (up 29 percent) for the twentieth time in a row. “Solar energy has become the engine of the global energy transition,” says Ember.
Total electricity generation from renewables reached a record 858 TWh in 2024, 49 percent more than the previous record of 577 TWh in 2022. The record growth in renewables, combined with a slight increase in nuclear power of 69 TWh, meant that the share of low-carbon energy sources in the electricity mix was 40.9 percent in 2024, compared to 39.4 percent in 2023. Hydropower remained the most important source of low-carbon electricity (14.3%), followed by nuclear (9.0%), with wind (8.1%) and solar (6.9%) rapidly gaining ground and together overtaking hydropower in 2024, while nuclear’s share reached its lowest level in 45 years.
The report analyzes electricity data from 215 countries, including the latest data for 2024 for 88 countries, representing 93 percent of global electricity demand, and estimates for 2024 for all other countries.
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