Solar PV remains the powerhouse of growth in renewable electricity, with its capacity additions forecast to increase by 17% in 2021 to a new record of almost 160 GW. In the same time frame, onshore wind additions are set to be almost one-quarter higher on average than during the 2015-20 period.
Globally, solar PV alone accounted for three-quarters of renewable capacity additions worldwide. Prior to the COP28 climate change conference in Dubai, the International Energy Agency (IEA) urged governments to support five pillars for action by 2030, among them the goal of tripling global renewable power capacity.
Wind energy: With an increase of 75 GW (+9 per cent) in 2022, growth in wind power continued to slow compared to the previous two years. Solar energy: Solar photovoltaic (PV) power accounted for almost all the increase in solar power in 2022, with an increase of 191 GW in solar PV.
Renewable power capacity additions will continue to increase in the next five years, with solar PV and wind accounting for a record 96% of it because their generation costs are lower than for both fossil and non-fossil alternatives in most countries and policies continue to support them. IEA. Licence: CC BY 4.0
Thanks to the unprecedented solar capacity growth in 2023, a record-breaking 473 GW of renewable power capacity was built worldwide – a 54% increase from 308 GW in 2022. The strong growth in 2023 brought the world closer to achieving the ambitious goal of tripling renewable capacity by 2030.
This meant 74% more solar was installed in 2023 than in 2022, the fastest percentage rise since 2011. Almost three-quarters of all renewable capacity built in 2023 was solar. Wind additions also increased by a sizable 51% in 2023, accounting for another quarter of renewable capacity additions in 2023.