Growth in renewable energy capacity broke records in 2024.
The International Renewable Energy Agency has released a report tallying up the expansion of renewables, what the mix of sources looked like, and their geographic spread.
As reported by Reuters, 585 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity were added, virtually all from solar and wind, totalling 4,448 gigawatts. IRENA estimated that this growth accounted for 92.5% of the energy sector’s total capacity expansion. That works out to 15.1% of annual growth in renewable energy, which is a new record. It’s still a little shy of the 16.6% of annual growth needed to meet Paris Agreement goals by 2030, but it’s still good news overall.
China accounted for more than half of the growth with 373.6 gigawatts of new renewable capacity in 2024. About 42% of all global renewable energy came from solar,…
