85% of New Electricity in 2023 Came from Renewable Sources

In 2023, a remarkable 85% of new electricity came from renewables, marking a significant shift towards cleaner energy sources. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, a staggering 473 gigawatts (GW) of clean energy capacity was added last year, highlighting the rapid growth of solar and wind power. While renewable energy still lags behind fossil fuels in overall electricity supply, it is being constructed at a much faster rate.

Last year, renewables constituted nearly 86% of the global new electricity capacity. This marks a substantial increase in renewable energy installations, which have been gradually rising over the past few decades but have accelerated recently. The 473 GW of renewable capacity added in 2023 surpasses the 308 GW installed the previous year and nearly doubles the 2021 figures.

Since 2010, most of the capacity growth has been driven by wind and solar power, with solar leading the way. In 2023 alone, nearly 346 GW of solar capacity was installed, accounting for about 63% of all new capacity. As a result, clean energy now represents around 43% of global electricity capacity. In terms of electricity generation, renewables contributed 30% of the world’s electricity last year.

The rise in renewable energy has coincided with a decline in the construction of non-renewable power plants and an increase in the decommissioning of fossil fuel facilities. In the United States, for instance, coal and natural gas plants made up 98% of energy capacity retirements in 2023, according to the Energy Information Administration.

However, despite this progress, the current pace of renewable energy construction is not sufficient to meet the COP28 goal of tripling global renewable capacity by 2030. To achieve this target, renewable capacity needs to grow by 16.1% annually; last year’s growth was 14%.

There is still time to catch up, though. In the U.S., tax incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act are already stimulating renewable energy production. Additionally, trends indicate that renewable energy prices will continue to fall, which is encouraging for meeting the ambitious goals necessary to significantly reduce emissions from the power grid.