Renewable capacity highlights
11 April 2022
Renewable generation capacity by energy source
At the end of 2021, global renewable
generation capacity amounted to
3 064 GW. Hydropower accounted for
the largest share of the global total,
with a capacity of 1 230 GW.*
Solar and wind energy accounted for
equal shares of the remainder, with
capacities of 849 GW and 825 GW
respectively. Other renewables
included 143 GW of bioenergy and
16 GW of geothermal, plus 524 MW of
marine energy.
Renewable power capacity growth
Renewable generation capacity increased by 257 GW (+9.1%) in 2021. Solar
energy continued to lead capacity expansion, with an increase of 133 GW (+19%),
followed by wind energy with 93 GW (+13%). Hydropower capacity increased by
19 GW (+2%) and bioenergy by 10 GW (+8%). Geothermal energy increased by
1.6 GW.
Solar and wind energy continued to dominate renewable capacity expansion,
jointly accounting for 88% of all net renewable additions in 2021. Along with the
higher growth of geothermal, this growth in wind and solar led to a high annual
increase in renewable generating capacity.
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*
Note: these figures exclude pure pumped storage. At end-2021, this was an additional 130 GW,
giving a total hydropower capacity of 1 360 GW.
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Hydropower Solar Wind Bioenergy Geothermal
0
25
50
75
100
125
150
Capacity added in 2021
GW
HEADLINE
FIGURES
3 064 GW
Global renewable
generation capacity at
the end of 2021
9.1%
Growth in renewable
capacity during 2021
257 GW
Net increase in global
renewable generation
capacity in 2021
60%
Share of new
renewable capacity
installed in Asia in 2021
88%
Wind and solar share of
new renewable
capacity in 2021
81%
Share of renewables in
net capacity
expansion in 2021
IRENA’s renewable energy
statistics can be downloaded
at: www.irena.org/statistics
40%
28%
27%
5%
Hydro Solar Wind Others