In 2018 there was a global addition of renewable energy generation of 171 gigawatts.
Renewable energies reach a third of the world's electricity capacity
The rebound recorded in the last year was mostly driven by new additions of solar and wind energy
The planet receives good news regarding sustainability. Renewable energy generation capacity maintains a strong growth trend, registering a significant 7.9 percent increase last year, according to the latest data from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) ). In 2018 there was a global addition of renewable energy generation of 171 gigawatts (GW), reaching a total capacity of 2,351 GW at the end of last year, according to IRENA's 2019 Renewable Capacity Statistics report. With this increase, renewable energies reach a third of the installed electricity capacity in the world.
Most of the renewable energy generation capacity corresponds to hydroelectric power, whose installed capacity is 1,172 GW, approximately half of the total. The remainder is mostly distributed by wind power and solar energy with capacities of 564 GW and 480 GW, respectively. The 121 GW of bioenergy, 13 GW of geothermal energy and lastly the energy generated by tides, waves and oceans, known as marine energy, with just 500 megawatts (MV), complete the table.
Solar and wind power
The rebound recorded in the last year was mostly driven by new additions of solar and wind energy, which constitute 84 percent of the increase. Of the 171 GW of renewable energy that were incorporated in 2018, 94 GW corresponds to solar energy and 49 GW to wind energy.
Asia is the continent where last year there was the largest increase in solar power generation. Of the new 94 GW, the Asian continent contributed 64 GW, that is, around 70 percent, highlighting the participation of China, India, Japan and South Korea. Outside Asia, the United States made an important contribution of 8.4 GW; Australia with 3.8 GW and Germany with 3.6 GW. Other countries with a significant increase in solar power generation were Brazil, Egypt, Pakistan, Mexico, Turkey and the Netherlands.
With regard to wind energy, the largest expansion corresponds to China and the United States, with increases of 20 GW and 7 GW respectively. Other countries that made contributions in excess of 1 GW were Germany, Brazil, France, India and the United Kingdom.
Insufficient growth
The IRENA report concludes that renewable capacity has grown in all regions of the world, although at a different rate. The fastest growth in new generations of renewable energy last year was recorded in Oceania with 17.7 percent, followed by Asia with 11.4 percent and Africa with 8.4 percent.
Adnan Amin, general director of IRENA, highlights in the statistical report on renewable energies considered one of the most complete in the world, that the strong growth recorded in 2018 continues the trend of the last five years but to achieve global climate goals and Sustainable development goals require that renewable energy generation capacity grow at an even faster rate.
Although the increase in the generation of renewable energies has also shown an increase in the same measure of awareness in the need for sustainability, assuming that nature and the environment are not an inexhaustible source of resources, the behavior of the generation Non-renewable energy shows that there is still much to do.
The capacity to generate non-renewable energy, mainly fossil fuels and nuclear energy, has decreased in Europe, North America and Oceania by approximately 85 GW since 2010; however, it has increased in Asia and the Middle East during the same period and, since 2000, non-renewable generation capacity has expanded annually 115 GW on average, without demonstrating a perceptible tendency to increase or decrease.
