[font face=Serif][font size=5]Solar energy[/font]

[font size=4]Solar power shows up at scale[/font]

[font size=3]New installations totaling 40.2 GW in 2014 took global solar power generating capacity to 180 GW by year-end, a 28.7% increase versus the end of 2013. Capacity has more than quadrupled in the past four years



The largest increments in 2014 were recorded in the Asia Pacific region; China added 10.6 GW, just ahead of Japan with 9.7 GW, together accounting for more than half of the growth in global solar capacity. The US provided the third largest addition (6.2 GW). Germany remains the world leader for cumulative installed capacity (38.2 GW), but China (28.2 GW) and Japan (23.3 GW) have both overtaken Italy to take second and third place.

Solar power generation enjoyed another year of very rapid growth in 2014, with a 38% increase. Its overall share of global power generation remains low (0.8%), but that share has doubled in just two years. Solar is starting to have a noticeable impact in terms of sources of power generation growth, contributing nearly 15% of the growth of global power in 2014.

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[font face=Serif][font size=5]Wind energy[/font]

[font size=4]Maintaining rapid growth, wind power generating capacity grew by 16.2% in 2014, with capacity increasing by 52GW to reach 373GW by the end of 2014[/font]

[font size=3]Wind power now generates 706TWh of electricity, 3% of total world electricity generation. That is almost equivalent to the total power generation of Germany and the Netherlands combined.

China leads the world in terms of installed wind capacity (115GW), and in 2014 China recorded the largest addition of new wind capacity (23GW), followed by Germany (6GW) and the US (5GW).



In 2014 Asia Pacific overtook Europe & Eurasia to become the largest regional market in terms of total installed wind power capacity, with 147GW (39% of the world total) versus Europe’s 135GW.

Wind has become an important contributor to European electricity generation. In Denmark wind power provided 41.4% of power generation in 2014. Wind power now provides 15% or more of power generated in Spain, Portugal, Ireland, in Lithuania. Germany, which overtook Spain as the largest wind power producer in Europe in 2014, obtained 9.1% of its power from wind last year. Wind has a much smaller share in the US,the largest wind power producer in the world, where it contributes 4.3% of power generation.

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[font face=Serif][font size=5]Review by energy type: Primary energy[/font]

[font size=4]World primary energy consumption grew by 0.9% in 2014. This was the slowest growth rate since 1998 other than the decline in the aftermath of the financial crisis[/font]

[font size=3]Growth was below average in all regions except North America and Africa. All fuels except nuclear energy grew at below-average rates. Oil remains the world’s dominant fuel, Hydroelectric and other renewables in power generation both reached record shares of global primary energy consumption (6.8% and 2.4% respectively).



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[font face=Serif][font size=5]Six remarkable energy facts from 2014[/font]

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[font size=4]6. Two sides to every story: how renewables fared[/font]

[font size=3]“I’d describe the renewables story as one that can be viewed as ‘half-full’ or ‘half-empty’. On one side, there’s the fact that the growth in renewables (including biofuels) accounted for almost a third of the total increase in primary energy in 2014, and provided more than 40% of the increase in power generation. These are big numbers.

On the other side of the coin – a more ‘half-empty’ story – is that renewables energy growth in 2014 remained robust at 12%, but that’s below the 10-year average of 15.4%. This slowdown was driven by wind which grew at less than half of its ten-year rate, reflecting both less public policy support (in EU and US) and low wind speeds (in China). Overall, renewables only provided 3% of primary energy.

So, how to explain this growth at the same time as a seemingly static state for renewables? Essentially, overall growth rate of energy demand slowed, but the renewables sector continued its ‘normal’ growth as it’s not sensitive to the demand side. But, because the overall growth in energy demand slowed so sharply, renewables accounted for a larger share of a smaller pie.”

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“… growth in renewables (including biofuels) accounted for almost a third of the total increase in primary energy in 2014, and provided more than 40% of the increase in power generation. These are big numbers. ”