REN Additions

The twin challenges of i) secure energy supply and ii) climate targets have propelled renewable energy sources (basically solar & wind power) into a new phase of growth.  Global renewable capacity increased by 295 GW in 2022 (9.6%), bringing the world to a cumulative installed capacity of 3,372 GW [IRENA, 2023].  Specific growths in 2022 were (*):

  

• 231 GWdc of PHOTOVOLTAIC was installed globally in 2022, bringing cumulative PV installs to 1,200 GWdc [NREL, 2023]. (BNEF: 268 GW, Solar Power Europe-SPE: 239 GW) [PVM, 2023].

• 77.6 GW of new WIND capacity was connected to power grids in 2022, bringing total installed wind capacity to 906 GW, a growth of 9% compared with 2021 [GWEC, 2023]. (SPE: 78 GW}

• 7.6 GW of BIOENERGY (biopower) installed capacity was added in 2022 (8.1 GW in 2021).  Global capacity of bioenergy reached nearly 148.9 GW in 2022 [STAT, 2023]. (SPE: 8 GW}

• With 21 GW (2%) of addition, HYDROPOWER still accounts for the largest share of installed renewables capacity at 1,255 GW [PVMAG, 2023]. (SPE: 30 GW}

• With 273 MWe of addition, world GEOTHERMAL energy installed capacity at the end of 2022 was 16,127 MWe [TG, 2023].

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(*): Data may differ due to different references

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Both solar & wind contributed 90% to the share of all new renewable capacity in 2022.  At the global level, solar capacity led with 22% increase, followed by wind energy, which increased its generating capacity by 9% [IRENA, 2023].  Figure 1 shows projected changes in global electricity generation from 2022 to 2025 [GWEC, 2023].

  

The cheapest REN power projects in the 1H/2023 can be found in China, achieving levelized cost (LCOE) of USD 23/MWh for best-in-class onshore wind farms, USD 50/MWh for offshore wind, and USD 31/MWh for fixed-axis PV farms [BNEF, 2023].  Figure 2 shows global weighted average total installed cost for renewables (2010 to 2018) and projected percentile ranges, while Figure 3 shows LCOE of electricity benchmarks (H2-2009 to H1-2023).

  

Asia growth

 

The growth of renewables is persistently concentrated in a few countries and regions like Asia, the U.S., and Europe.  Almost half of all new capacity in 2022 was added in Asia, resulting in a total of 1.63 TW of renewable capacity by 2022.  China led the way, adding 141 GW to the continent’s new capacity [IRENA, 2023].