New Energy Boomed With World 2021 Power Demand, Emissions

Wind And Solar Top 10% of Global Power Generation For First Time

September 21, 2022 (Bloomberg New Energy Finance)

“The world’s wind and solar projects combined to meet more than a tenth of global electricity demand for the first time in 2021…[but Bloomberg BNEF found the economic recovery from COVID also drove up overall electricity demand, production from coal-fired power plants, and emissions…[Wind and solar’s nearly 3,000 terawatt-hours of electricity] accounted for a combined 10.5% of global 2021 generation…[Wind’s contribution was] 6.8% while solar climbed to 3.7%. A decade ago, these two technologies combined accounted for well under 1% of total electricity production…

click to enlarge

…[Including hydro and nuclear generation,] 39% of all power produced globally in 2021 was carbon free…Every year since 2017, wind and solar have accounted for the majority of new power-generating capacity…[Total] zero-carbon power accounted for 85% of all new capacity added…Solar was half of all global capacity added, at 182 gigawatts…[But enormous work remains] for the power system to address its role in climate change…[E]lectricity demand surged 5.6% year-on-year, putting new strains on existing infrastructure and fossil fuel supply chains…

click to enlarge

…[Because of lower-than-expected production from hydro plants and higher natural gas prices,] coal plants set records by jumping 8.5% from 2020-2021…One small bright spot: the speed at which new coal is being added to the grid is slowing…[Nonetheless, the result was a] 7% spike in global CO2 emissions from the power sector in 2021 compared to 2020. Power-sector emissions set a new high at 13,600 mega tons of CO2…” click here for more

click to enlarge

Tweet