{"id":1702,"date":"2022-05-05T15:45:53","date_gmt":"2022-05-05T15:45:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/investinlatam.org\/?p=1702"},"modified":"2022-05-05T15:45:54","modified_gmt":"2022-05-05T15:45:54","slug":"wind-and-solar-power-reaches-10-of-global-electricity-production-for-the-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/investinlatam.org\/en\/wind-and-solar-power-reaches-10-of-global-electricity-production-for-the-first-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Wind and Solar Power Reaches 10% of Global Electricity Production for the First Time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Wind and solar’s share of global electricity production has surpassed 10% for the first time, as China and Japan join 50 different countries in surpassing that level by 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new assessment, by UK-based Ember<\/strong><\/mark><\/a>, says wind and solar are the fastest-growing sources of electricity, and if maintained at the current rate could provide enough capacity to help limit average global warming to 1.5\u00b0C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Global share of electricity generation by source | Graph: Ember<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The problem is that, in the last year, fossil fuel production and emissions have also soared after a hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and more coal is being burned because gas has become too expensive<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
% Change in Electricity Generation: Fossil vs. Renewables | Chart: Ember<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“Wind and solar have arrived. The process that will reshape the current energy system has begun,” says David Jones<\/strong>, lead author of Ember’s third Annual World Electricity Report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jones says solar generation increased 23% last year, and wind 14%, bringing combined output to 10.3% of global electricity generation<\/strong>, up from 9.3% the previous year, and double the 4.6% in 2015, when the Paris climate treaty was agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Global production by 2021 | Graphic: Ember<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

All clean electricity sources, including nuclear (10.1%) and hydro (15.3%), generated 38% of global electricity in 2021<\/strong>, which was more than coal (36%), despite coal experiencing the biggest annual jump since 1985, reaching a new record high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“To be on a path to keep global warming at 1.5 degrees, wind and solar need to maintain high compound growth rates of 20% each year through 2030<\/strong>. That’s the same growth rate as their average over the past decade,” Jones says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may also be interested in<\/strong>: Cement and Steel: Nine Steps Toward Net Zero<\/mark><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Increasing Changes<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The countries leading the shift to wind and solar are Denmark<\/strong>, Uruguay <\/strong>and Luxembourg<\/strong>, which achieved shares of 52%, 47% and 43% respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“With 50 individual countries already generating more than 10% of their electricity from these rapidly deployed resources, and three countries already generating more than 40%, it is already clear that these technologies are delivering results.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Electricity generation by wind and solar. Data from 2021 | Chart: Ember<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“But as coal continues to rise and electricity demand continues to increase, all governments with carbon-intensive grids now need to act with that same boldness and ambition,” Jones emphasizes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Australia <\/strong>also gets an honorable mention for being one of three countries, along with the Netherlands <\/strong>and Vietnam<\/strong>, that have shifted more than 8% of their total electricity demand from fossil fuels to wind and solar in just the last two years<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Countries that achieved a 10% share of wind and solar in their local grids last year include China<\/strong>, Japan<\/strong>, Mongolia<\/strong>, Vietnam<\/strong>, Argentina<\/strong>, Hungary <\/strong>and El Salvador<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“More wind and solar power is being added to the grids than ever before. And not just in a few countries, but all over the world. They can provide most of the clean electricity needed to eliminate all fossil fuels, while helping to increase energy security,” Jones said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But with gas prices remaining high amid Russia’s war with Ukraine, there is a real risk of falling back on coal, threatening the global climate goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To access Ember’s <\/strong>report, click here<\/mark><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wind and solar’s share of global electricity production has surpassed 10% for the first time, as China and Japan join 50 different countries in surpassing that level by 2021. The new assessment, by UK-based Ember, says wind and solar are the fastest-growing sources of electricity, and if maintained at the current rate could provide enough…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1696,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[30],"class_list":["post-1702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-renewable-energy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/investinlatam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/investinlatam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/investinlatam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investinlatam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investinlatam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1702"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/investinlatam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1733,"href":"https:\/\/investinlatam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1702\/revisions\/1733"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investinlatam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/investinlatam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investinlatam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investinlatam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}