Renewables to bring 33% of global power in 2040 - IEA

Nov 13, 2014 - The share of renewables in total power generation globally will jump to 33% in 2040, while several years before that they will have overtaken coal as the top electricity source, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says.

For comparison, in 2013 renewables accounted for 21% of worldwide power.

Under the central scenario -- the New Policies Scenario -- in IEA’s World Energy Outlook 2014 (WEO-2014), renewable electricity generation, with hydropower included, nearly trebles between 2012 and 2040. China will be the one to achieve the largest jump in generation from renewables, more than that in the European Union (EU), the US and Japan together.

Renewables will be responsible for nearly half of the increase in power generation around the globe to 2040.

The WEO-2014 central scenario shows that in the next couple of years wind, solar and the other green energy technologies combined can overtake gas as the second-largest source of power generation and after 2035 they are seen surpassing coal as the number-one source. Wind power is projected to bring the largest share of growth in renewables generation, followed by hydropower and solar plants.

“Renewables are expected to go from strength to strength, and it is incredible that we can now see a point where they become the world’s number one source of electricity generation,” said IEA executive director Maria van der Hoeven.

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!