Renewable energy must develop faster and on a larger scale

Renewable energy capacity worldwide grew by 14% last year, according to IRENA’s updated statistical yearbook, which said a rate of 16.4% was needed to triple the total by 2030. Its director general, Francesco La Camera, warned of ongoing patterns of concentration by geography.

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has published its official statistical report for 2023, adding production data to 2022, as well as renewable energy balances and investments. The total capacity for 2023 has been revised down slightly from the initial release, by 5.2 GW to 3,865 GW. The changes concern hydropower and bioenergy. IRENA Director General Francesco La Camera warned against complacency.

At the end of 2023, renewable energy sources accounted for 3.9 TW, or 43% of the global total. Solar energy led the segment with 36.7%, or 1.42 TW, followed by hydropower (32.7%), wind (26.3%), bioenergy (3.9%), and trace amounts of geothermal and marine energy.

La Camera: Current growth rate is leading to failure

Even as renewables become the fastest-growing energy source, the world risks missing the COP28 target of tripling renewables. To stay on course, the world will now need to increase renewable capacity by at least 16.4% per year by 2030, according to IRENA. The target is 11.17 TW.

Combined with the continued decline in non-renewable capacity additions, this trend shows that renewables are on track to overtake fossil fuels in the global total. However, maintaining the 14% rate would mean missing the target by 1.5 TW or 13.5% in 2030.

“Renewable energy is increasingly outperforming fossil fuels, but this is not the time for complacency. Renewable energy must grow faster and at greater scale. Our new report sheds light on the direction of development; if we continue at the current rate of growth, we will not achieve the tripling of the renewable energy target agreed in the UAE Agreement at COP28, thus risking achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” said IRENA Director General Francesco La Camera.

The consolidated global numbers mask ongoing patterns of concentration by geography, he said. They risk exacerbating the decarbonization divide and pose a significant barrier to achieving the tripling goal, La Camera added.

China accounts for almost two-thirds of the world’s wind and photovoltaic power under construction

China, in particular, has 180 GW of utility-scale solar capacity and 159 GW of wind capacity already under construction, according to new data from the Global Energy Monitor. The combined capacity of the two is almost twice that of the rest of the world combined and enough to power all of South Korea.

Next is the United States with just 40 GW. The other top five are Brazil (13 GW), the United Kingdom (10 GW) and Spain (9 GW).

IRENA called for cooperation between governments, the private sector, multilateral organizations and civil society. Governments need to set clear renewable energy targets, look at actions such as speeding up permitting and expanding grid connections, and implement smart policies that force industries to act and encourage the private sector to invest, it stressed.

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