Solar leads renewable capacity expansion with 345.5 GW added in 2023

Solar energy continued to assert its dominance in the renewable generation capacity expansion last year, comprising 73% of the record-high 473 GW deployed throughout 2023, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) said on Thursday.

Solar photovoltaic capacity (PV) witnessed an increase of 345.5 GW last year, followed by wind energy with 116 GW of capacity additions. Next in the chart comes renewable hydropower, excluding pumped hydro, with 7 GW. Bioenergy and geothermal power contributed 4.4 GW and 0.2 GW, respectively.

The majority of new renewable energy capacities were reported in Asia -- 327.8 GW, with China alone contributing 297.6 GW. Europe followed as the second busiest region with 71.2 GW, followed by North America with 34.9 GW.

Image source: International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)

Overall, renewables constituted 86% of the new power capacity additions. Despite the record-high volume, progress is not moving fast enough to achieve the 11 TW target by 2030.

“Policy interventions and a global course-correction are urgently needed to effectively overcome structural barriers and create local value in emerging market and developing economies, many of which are still left behind in this progress,” said Francesco La Camera, IRENA’s director-general.

Taken as a whole, global renewable power capacity stood at 3,870 GW as of the end of 2023. This includes 1,419 GW of solar, 1,268 GW of renewable hydropower and 1,017 GW of wind. Bioenergy and geothermal accounted for 150 GW and 15 GW, respectively, while marine energy had a 0.5-GW share.

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