Par Lottie Limb (adapted from English)
Never before have wind and solar energy produced so much electricity in the world. According to the report by think tank Ember, in 2022 renewables generated 12% of the world’s electricity compared to 10% in 2021.
“This decisive decade for the climate marks the beginning of the end of the fossil era”, en conclut l’auteur principal du rapport, Małgorzata Wiatros-Motyka. “We are entering the age of clean energy.”
If clean power meets all of the new demand this year as expected, Ember’s fourth annual Global Electricity Review predicts a slight decline in fossil power generation in 2023. Larger declines are expected to follow, as the deployment of wind and solar energy accelerates.
How do sources of electricity become greener?
Last year, solar power was the fastest growing source of electricity for the 18th consecutive year, growing 24% from 2021. Ember believes solar renewables have added enough of electricity to power all of South Africa.
Wind generation, meanwhile, soared 17%, almost the equivalent of the UK’s power.
In total, clean electricity sources (renewable and nuclear) accounted for 39% of global electricity. Hydroelectricity produced 15% of this new record, according to data from Ember.
That said, and despite this progress, coal remains by far the largest source of electricity in the world, still producing 36% of all the electricity produced in the world in 2022.
But, as recently explained to euronews Dave Jones, chief data officer of Ember, the dreaded return to coal during the global gas crisis has not happened.
Growth in wind and solar generation helped meet 80% of the increase in global electricity demand last year, helping to keep fossil fuels in the ground. Coal production only increased by 1.1% and gas production fell by only 0.2%.
“Clean electricity will reshape the global economy, from transport to industry and beyond. A new era of declining fossil emissions means that the phasing out of electricity generation from coal will take place, and that the end of the growth of electricity generation from gas is now in sight”.
Which countries produce the most electricity from clean energy?
“Change is fast”adds the senior electricity analyst, and faster in some countries than in others.
Ember studied electricity data from 78 countries, representing 93% of global electricity demand. The study reveals that more than sixty countries now generate more than 10% of their energy from wind and solar energy.
A number of European countries have a head start. The share of wind and solar power in electricity generation was highest in Denmark, at 60.8% last year. Lithuania and Luxembourg follow with 48.4 and 46.6% respectively, although this represents a relatively small amount of energy in terms of terawatt hours (TWh).
According to this criterion, it is Germany which produced the most wind and solar energy of all European countries, with 185 TWh, followed by Spain and the United Kingdom.
Europe as a whole produced 805 TWh of electricity from wind and solar power, which is dwarfed by China with 1,241 TWh (14% of the country’s electricity production).
“China is a heavyweight in the global electricity sector”comments Li Shuo, senior policy adviser at Greenpeace East Asia.
“This is not only due to China’s size, but also a worrying trend in the development of its power sector. There is no doubt that China is leading the global energy expansion. renewables. But at the same time, the country is accelerating the approval of coal-related projects.”.
Ajay Mathur, chief executive of the International Solar Alliance, notes that the United States, India and Japan have also made some of the largest contributions to global solar PV generating capacity.
But Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Sustainable Energy, warns against the rapid deployment of renewable energy.
“Global progress, while encouraging, does not reveal the growing disparity in renewable energy adoption, which tilts disproportionately in favor of developed countries and emerging Asian economies”says Damilola Ogunbiyi, who is also co-chair of UN-Energy.
“Much more needs to be done to ensure that developing countries are not left behind and locked into a high-carbon future.”
Is the world on the way to net zero electricity?
Electricity is the sector that emits the most greenhouse gases in the world and its decarbonization is the foundation of a net zero energy system.
According to International Energy Agency modeling, electricity must be the first sector to reach net zero consumption by 2040, in order to achieve net zero consumption throughout the whole of economy by 2050. This would mean that wind and solar energy would represent 41% of the world’s electricity by 2030, a marked improvement from 12% last year.
According to Ember, it all hinges on the actions taken today by governments, businesses and citizens to put the world on a clean energy path.
Coal endurance means that “the power sector is not on track to meet global net zero goals by mid-century”says Mr. Ogunbiyi.
But the good news is that we have the necessary technology. “The way forward is to accelerate the production of renewable energy and make this technology a global public good”says Ajay Mathur.
To address some of the challenges, he advocates stronger policies to facilitate financing and improve access to components and raw materials, as well as greater geographic diversification of the supply chain.
“Furthermore, continued capacity building, shifting energy subsidies from fossil fuels to renewables and solar mini-grids would enable faster progress towards universal energy access.”