Record amount of renewable energy installed in 2017

• 5 years ago (2018-06-04)
• David Flin

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Research by the renewables policy organisation REN21 has shown that a record amount of renewable power capacity was installed worldwide in 2017 as the cost of wind and solar became even more competitive with fossil fuels. REN21 said in its annual renewables global status report that renewable power generation capacity grew by 178 GW in 2017, the largest annual increase to date.

New solar photovoltaic capacity reached 98 GW in 2017, up 29 per cent from 2016. New wind capacity came to 52 GW, a slight fall of 4 per cent compared with 2016. Total global renewable global capacity, including hydropower, rose to 2195 GW in 2017, up from 2017 GW in 2016.

Globally, more renewable capacity than new fossil fuel generation was added in 2017. In 2017, renewables accounted for 70 per cent of new capacity. New investment in renewable power was almost $279 billion, up from $274 billion in 2016, and more than twice that for new fossil fuel and nuclear power capacity.