A report by the think tank EMBER, which aims to accelerate the transition to clean energy, has revealed that renewable energy sources have surpassed the 40% mark for the first time since the 1940s.
Renewable energies were the primary driver of overall clean energy growth last year, contributing a record 858 terawatt-hours (TWh), a 49% increase over the previous peak in 2022, according to the analysis.
For the third consecutive year, solar power was the largest contributor, adding 474 TWh to reach 6.9%, and was the fastest-growing energy source for the 20th straight year.
Within just three years, solar electricity has doubled, providing more than 2,000 TWh of electricity in 2024. Meanwhile, wind energy increased, contributing 8.1% of global electricity, and hydroelectric power remained stable at 14%.
Speaking to the Efe agency, Wilmar Suárez, an analyst at EMBER, noted that “in a year of rapid electricity demand growth, the vast majority of this increase was met by the growth of renewables and nuclear energy.”
“While in the past, progress in developing clean energy was mainly observed in the United States and Europe, countries that long saw the largest increases in fossil fuel use in the energy sector are now driving changes faster than ever,” he stated.
EMBER’s Managing Director, Phil MacDonald, emphasized in a statement that solar energy has become “the engine of global energy transition,” adding that “along with battery storage, solar energy is set to be an unstoppable force.”
The sixth annual analysis by EMBER, named “Global Electricity Review,” concluded that despite the rise in renewables, fossil fuel generation is expected to see a slight increase of 1.4% in 2024 due to electricity demand.
This indicates that heatwaves were the main driver of the increase in fossil fuel generation, accounting for nearly a fifth (a 0.7% increase) of the global electricity demand rise in 2024 (a 4.0% increase).
The report further forecasts that clean energy growth will surpass demand in the coming years, signaling the beginning of a decline in fossil fuel generation.
Additional noteworthy data shows that more than half of the increase in solar generation in 2024 occurred in China, where growth met 81% of the demand increase, whereas in India, solar capacity doubled last year compared to 2023.
In this context, Wilmar Suárez stressed, “China is a global leader in the energy transition, and India saw a record number of solar energy capacity installations last year, with more than double that until 2023.”
