A new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) on renewable energy statistics has shown that in 2021 the total amount of energy produced from RES reached 7,858 TWh.
About 55%, i.e. 4,275 TWh, of green energy fell on hydropower, reports IRENA.
It is noted that other renewable energy sources generated:
- wind energy – 1,838 TWh;
- solar energy – 1,034 TWh;
- bioenergy – 615 TWh, including 429 TWh (70%) from solid biofuel, 92 TWh (15%) from biogas; 86 TWh (14%) from renewable municipal waste; and 7 TWh (1%) from liquid biofuels;
- geothermal energy – 95 TWh;
- marine energy – 1 TWh
The report highlighted that green energy production in 2021 was 402 TWh, or 5.4%, higher than in 2020. Asia accounted for about 80% of the growth in production, particularly in wind power.
IRENA told that in 2021 solar and wind energy production increased by 23% and 16%. These two energy sources continue to dominate the growth of renewable generation. Thus, they account for 80% of the growth since 2017. And renewable hydropower production fell by 82 TWh, compared to an increase of 120 TWh in 2019-20.
In 2021, renewable hydropower production declined in most regions, but increased by 10 TWh in Europe and 7 TWh in Africa, it said.
Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that in June, the world wind energy capacity reached 1 TW, which took 40 years.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, the EU plans to increase the share of renewable energy in the bloc's total energy consumption to 42.5% by 2030 with an additional indicative increase of 2.5%.
