Renewables keep breaking their own records, adding a whopping 585 GW of new capacity last year.
At the same time, annual non-renewable additions have been declining – after peaking in 2010 – resulting in the renewable share rising dramatically from just 27% in 2004 to 92.5% in 2024.
This is according to IRENA’s Renewable Capacity Statistics 2025 report, released earlier this week.
The vast majority of the renewables added last year was solar, at 77%, with wind at 19%. Hydro, bioenergy and geothermal made up the rest. And no surprises that China continued its dominance in clean energy, adding more renewables than the rest of the world combined.
However it’s not all rosy:
➡️ This is capacity not generation. The two are linked and renewables tend to be given priority in the mix, but curtailment will result in less generation than might be expected.
➡️ Grid constraints may start to limit the volume of new capacity that can be added in the coming years
➡️ The rate of additions is still not quite enough to reach the global tripling target of 11 TW by 2030.
