Global renewable energy capacity grew at a record pace last year

Global renewable energy (RE) capacity grew by a record 15.1 per cent to 585 gigawatts (GW) in 2024, with solar energy accounting for the vast majority of the total increase. This was stated in a report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

Record growth in solar power
Solar and wind remain the fastest growing renewable energy sources. They accounted for 96.6 percent of the total growth last year.

Last year, global solar growth reached 451.9 GW. Asia contributed the most to this development, more than doubling its installed PV capacity from 2022. The largest increases in installed solar capacity occurred in China (+278.0 GW) and India (+24.5 GW).

Outside of Asia, the United States and the United States of America (+38.3 GW) saw the highest growth in PV capacity in 2024, representing a 54.0% increase from 2023. Sharp increases in installed capacity occurred in Brazil (+15.2 GW) and Germany (+15.1 GW).

Regional differences
Total renewable energy capacity at the end of last year was 4,448 GW, or 4,448 terawatts. Despite the progress, it is still below the 11.2 terawatts needed to meet the Paris climate agreement and the global target of tripling the installed capacity of global renewables by 2030. To reach this target, capacity now needs to grow at a rate of 16.6 percent per year.

IRENA's analysis highlighted large regional differences. Nearly 64 percent of new global capacity was built in China, which added 278 GW of solar capacity last year. The G7 group of seven economically developed countries accounted for 14.3 percent of the overall growth. In contrast, Central American and Caribbean countries contributed the least, accounting for 3.2 percent of last year's growth.

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