Wind & Solar Meet Majority of Electricity Demand Growth

Wind and solar power accounted for 12 percent of global electricity in 2022, according to Ember’s fourth annual Global Electricity Review, published today. This rises to 39 percent when combined with other renewables and nuclear.

The following chart shows how much more (or less) electricity was produced by the different energy sources each year versus the year before. Data shows that there’s been significant progress in the production of solar and wind power over the past two decades. In 2022, solar added a record of 245 TWh of generation in 2022, while wind added a record 312 TWh - together accounting for 80 percent of the world's increased need for electricity that year. While this is a move in the right direction, coal and other fossil fuels were still needed to meet the world’s overall growing need for electricity.

The world saw a 2.5 percent increase in demand on average for electricity in 2022. However, demand differs greatly by region. According to the report, Asia has the largest growing electricity needs, while Latin America was the only region to have increased clean power fast enough to meet rising electricity demand over the past seven years whilst at the same time reducing its fossil generation.