Renewable energy and installed capacity: what’s the current situation in the world?

Renewable energy and installed capacity: what’s the current situation in the world? Renewables now are close to half of the world's installed capacity, and solar and wind in particular are growing steadily, while at Enel they’re growing even faster: this news bodes well for the future. The energy transition is one of the defining phenomena of our time, and the numbers bear this out: renewable energy for electricity generation reached 42% of installed capacity worldwide in 2022 (41.98%, to be precise). This figure comes from the 2023 edition of the World Energy Outlook, the report produced annually by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the most authoritative international energy body. Specifically, in terms of the most important green energy sources are hydropower (16.11% of the total), solar (13.25%) and wind (10.43%). The news is also significant because it confirms a growing trend: the percentage was up from 25.69% in 2010, 30.84% in 2015, and 40% in 2021. The numbers are even more promising for Enel, which is one of the world's leading electricity producers: renewable energy sources now account for 64.83% of its installed capacity, or nearly two-thirds of the total (31.46% hydro, 21.05% wind, 11.21% solar). The Group is at the forefront of the energy transition, and this is also evident in its ambitious goal of achieving a clean-only power generation fleet (so-called Net Zero) as early as 2040, some 10 years ahead of the internationally set deadline. What is installed capacity? Installed capacity is one of the most important parameters in the energy field, but it should not be confused with energy produced. It’s called capacity precisely because it indicates the ability to produce energy: a power plant has the same capacity when it generates energy and when it is stationary, but the energy produced in the second case is zero. Capacity is measured in watts, while energy is measured in watt-hours: if a 1 MW (1 Megawatt, i.e., one million Watts) plant generates electricity for one hour, at the end of the hour it will have produced electricity for 1 MWh (one Megawatt hour), in two hours it will have produced 2 MWh, and so on. The greater the capacity of a plant, the greater the amount of electricity it is able to produce: that’s why it’s a key figure. Why are clean energy sources so important? Clean energy sources, unlike fossil fuels, do not emit carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere during the electricity generation phase. This is a very important difference because carbon dioxide is the main culprit when it comes to the greenhouse effect which is causing the global warming and, as a result, other forms of climate change (such as desertification, extreme weather events and the acidification of oceans). Clean energy sources as a whole are therefore the main tool for protecting the climate. A message of optimism and hope The IEA data is therefore very good news from the standpoint of environmental protection: it confirms that we are on the right track, and the forecast bodes well for further growth in clean energy sources in the coming years. It is a message of hope and optimism for the future: we are on the right path and we will stay on it.

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Renewable energy and installed capacity: what’s the current situation in the world?

Renewable energy and installed capacity: what’s the current situation in the world?

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