How Renewable Energy Technologies perform in 2022 Growth

Renewable energy recorded significant growth last year. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), global renewable generation capacity reached 3372 Gigawatts (GW), increasing the stock of renewable power by 9.6 percent to 295 GW by the end of 2022.

IRENA said that renewables produced an impressive 83 percent of all new power capacity added last year.

These are how the technologies performed in 2022:

• Hydropower: Renewable hydropower capacity increased by 21GW (+2 percent), an expansion consistent with recent years.

• Wind energy: With an increase of 75GW (+9 percent) in 2022, growth in wind power continued to slow compared to the previous two years.

• Solar energy: Solar photovoltaic (PV) power accounted for almost all the increase in solar power in 2022, with an increase of 191GW in solar PV.

• Bioenergy: Expansion slowed slightly in 2022 (+7.6GW compared to +8.1GW in 2021).

• Geothermal energy: Geothermal energy increased by a very modest 181 MW.

• Off-grid electricity: Capacity grew by 1,237 MW in 2022 (+11 percent) to reach 12.4 GW.

According to Francesco La Camera IRENA’s Director-General, this continued record growth shows the resilience of renewable energy amidst the lingering energy crisis.