With the renewable revolution in full swing, nations all over the globe are investing in global energy renewables in hit-smashing records. Here we’ve listed down some statistics and analyzed data to bring you ten facts you probably didn’t know about renewable energy.
1. China has the largest renewable capacity than Europe
As China is the world’s biggest carbon emitter, they do have their fair share of responsibility in regards to renewable energy installation. What makes it even more encouraging is that Chinas has the 516GW capacity. That’s 22GW more than the entire continent of Europe! In 2015, there was a 48% increase in solar capacity in Asia. As China installed 15W of new capabilities, Japan also installed 10GW.
2. The United Kingdom has the fifth highest European capacity
Ranked as the eleventh country overall, the UK government has made recent cuts to renewable subsidies and the ever-changing green policy, however, the UK has leapfrogged Sweden, Switzerland, and Norway to be the top five countries since 2006 regarding renewable capacity. At 33GW, the United Kingdom is the 12th largest producer in renewables capacity.
3. Almost 20 countries have installed 1GW of capacity in 2015-2016
With the recent Paris Agreement on the horizon, countries all over the world are increasing their installation efforts as the expansion of renewables remains focused on a certain number of countries. However, nineteen countries have installed more than 1GW since 2015 and have accounted for more than ninety perfect. With Asia accounting for almost 60% of new capacity, this brings it to a total of approximately 800 gig watt or forty percent of global capacity.
4. Hydropower leads the ways of renewable energy generation
Since the beginning on 2016, global renewable generation capacity has increased the amount to 1,985 GW. Hydropower has accounted for the largest share of the total with an installed capacity of 1,209 gig watts. With a total of 26.3 GW, new hydropower capacity was installed in China, India, Turkey, and Brazil. Additionally, over one gigawatt was also installed in North America, Europe, and Iran as well as 550 megawatts in Africa.
5. Japan has 2.4GW more than all of Europe
Regarding the world’s largest emitters, Japan is minimized by China’s renewable capacity as it can be easy to forget that Japan is the eighth largest emitter in the world. But the “land of the rising sun” has recently added another 10 GW of solar capacity.
6. Moldova saw size decrease by more than 50%
Caught up in Russia’s export web, Moldova has experienced its renewable energy generation capacity to fall from 69 megawatts to a mere 3 megawatts over the course of a year. As hydropower provides more than 80% of the country’s electricity, it fell to 44 megawatts due to the reliance on Russian energy exports.
7. Six countries have OMW of renewable capacity
The countries of South Sudan, Timor-Leste, Kuwait, Niue, and Nauru will soon appear in the green community which holds the unenviable accolade of OMW.
8. Thames River has a larger renewable capacity than forty countries
As over 23,000 solar photovoltaic floats along the reservoir near Walton on Thames, the capital of English can boast of their 6.3 MW capacity as the River Thames can generate more renewable energy for forty countries.
9. Morocco increased renewable energy capacity than its previous six years
The city of Ouarzazate in Morocco is famous for its major appearances in both TV and films such as The Mummy, Game of Thrones, and Lawrence of Arabia. Recently, its popularity grew due to its construction of the world’s largest solar plant. As of now, over 160 megawatts of power is already in use as is said to be fully operational by 2018. This means Morocco will have more capacity in three years with a total of 580 megawatts than in the past six years.
10. Apple’s 2.2GW of clean energy projects in China makes it the 18th highest country in Asia for renewable energy capacity
Out of nearly thirty countries in Asia listed on the report, only seventeen countries have a renewable capacity of a minimum of a gigawatt. The tech mogul, Apple has already made efforts to install more than 2.2 gigawatts of renewable capacity at its manufacturing facilities in China. In return, the increase will surpass thirteen other countries in Asia. Thames Water has also pledged to support the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rise.
Is your country ranked in the highest renewable energy capacity? Are you planning on investing in it? Comment below and tell us what you think!