Record New Energy Global Growth In 2020

World Adds Record New Renewable Energy Capacity in 2020; Despite COVID-19 pandemic, more than 260GW of renewable energy capacity added globally in 2020, beating previous record by almost 50%

5 April 2021 (International Renewable Energy Agency)

“…[T]he world added more than 260 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity last year, exceeding expansion in 2019 by close to 50 per cent…IRENA’s annual Renewable Capacity Statistics 2021 shows that [despite the economic slowdown that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic] renewable energy’s share of all new generating capacity rose considerably for the second year in a row. More than 80 per cent of all new electricity capacity added last year was renewable, with solar and wind accounting for 91 per cent of new renewables…[New Energy replaced decommissioned] fossil fuel power generation in Europe, North America and for the first time across Eurasia (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russian Federation and Turkey)…

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Total fossil fuel additions fell to 60 GW in 2020 from 64 GW the previous year… At the end of 2020, global renewable generation capacity amounted to 2 799 GW with hydropower still accounting for the largest share (1 211 GW) although solar and wind are catching up fast. The two variable sources of renewables dominated capacity expansion in 2020 with 127 GW and 111 GW of new installations for solar and wind respectively…

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…China and the United States were the two outstanding growth markets from 2020. China, already the world’s largest market for renewables added 136 GW last year with the bulk coming from 72 GW of wind and 49 GW of solar. The United States installed 29 GW of renewables last year, nearly 80 per cent more than in 2019, including 15 GW of solar and around 14 GW of wind. Africa continued to expand steadily with an increase of 2.6 GW, slightly more than in 2019, while Oceania remained the fastest growing region (+18.4%), although its share of global capacity is small and almost all expansion occurred in Australia…” click here for more

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