The share of renewable energy in the global electricity mix was above 30% in 2023, and renewable generation reached almost 40%. It is the main headline that highlights the fifth edition of the Ember’s Global Electricity Review, which provides the first comprehensive overview of changes in global electricity generation over the past year. Thanks to wind and photovoltaic energy, 102 countries had a share of renewables of 30% or higher (+98% compared to 2022); while in 69 other countries this participation exceeded 50% (for example, in Spain).
In this sense, both technologies reached a new maximum record of 13.4% and 3,935 TWh last year, with China being the country that contributed the most, representing 51% of the additional generation of global solar electricity in 2023 and 60% of the new generation of global wind electricity. For its part, the European Union also stands out with a contribution of 24% and Brazil (7%) in terms of wind energy, while the European Union (12%) and the United States (11%) provided the growth of photovoltaics. world.
According to the report, and with this latest data, the four main economies with growth in photovoltaic electricity (China, the EU, the United States and Brazil) accounted for 81% of the growth in 2023. Photovoltaics added more than double the new electricity, both like coal in 2023, and was the fastest growing source of electricity generation for the 19th consecutive year. Furthermore, and for the second time, the growth in global solar electricity generation (+307 TWh, +23%) left wind electricity behind (+206 TWh, +9.8%).
In 2023, the share of photovoltaics in the global electricity mix was 5.5% (1,631 TWh), compared to the share of 4.6% in 2022. In short, solar electricity generation in 2023 was more than six times higher than in 2015. However, wind provided a higher share of global electricity, at 7.8% in 2023 (2,304 TWh), even though its growth was 18% lower compared to the increase of 249 TWh in 2022 due to the drop, for the first time since 2001, in wind generation in the United States.
Regarding the rest of the technologies, hydroelectricity generation in the world fell to its lowest level in five years of 4,210 TWh and represented 14.3%, the lowest level since at least 2000. For its part, the Global bioenergy generation increased by 21 TWh (+3.1%), mainly due to growth in China (+28 TWh, +15.6%). Likewise, nuclear provided 9.1% of the world’s electricity in 2023 and was unchanged from last year.
About the demand
Ember’s report also analyzes demand data and notes that, although its growth was lower than usual in 2023, clean electricity could not meet all demand and caused fossil fuel generation to grow marginally for cover the deficit. Here, China remains the main driver of electricity demand growth with 606 TWh (+6.9%), followed by India (+99 TWh, +5.4%). The largest drops in demand were seen in the United States (-1.4%) and the European Union (-3.4%). With all this, wind and photovoltaics covered 82% of the growth in global electricity demand in 2023, compared to 77% in 2022.
About emissions
Global CO2 emissions increased by 1% (+135 million tons of CO2) in 2023, reaching 14,153 million tons of CO2, which is equivalent to a record high. Generation with coal and gas increased 1.4%, from 10,288 TWh in 2022 to 10,434 TWh in 2023, but their share in the global electricity matrix fell 0.3 percentage points, from 35.7% to 35.4 %. Furthermore, global gas electricity generation increased only slightly (+53 TWh, +0.8%) and its share in the matrix fell by 0.3 percentage points to 22.5%. In the report they point out that the year 2023 was very close to becoming the first year of a new era of decrease in emissions from the electricity sector and that, if this increase continues, it is possible that in 2024 clean electricity could increase above electricity demand and reduce emissions. That is, photovoltaics and wind have prevented emissions from increasing even faster.
The 2024 forecasts
From Ember they launch a series of forecasts for the year 2024 such as that electricity demand will increase significantly to 968 TWh in 2024, and that clean generation will grow even faster by adding about 1,300 TWh in 2024, which is more than double of the increase in 2023 (+493 TWh). Electricity demand will also grow by approximately 3.3% (+968 TWh), compared to 2.2% (+627 TWh) in 2023.
