Growth of Global Solar and Wind Energy Continues to Outpace Other Technologies

Renewable Energy Focus has a look at this year's Worldwatch report on renewable energy - Solar and wind dominate world market.

According to “Growth of Global Solar and Wind Energy Continues to Outpace Other Technologies”, published by Worldwatch, global solar power consumption increased by 58 percent to 93 terrawatt-hours (TWh), and the use of wind power increased by 18 percent to 521 TWh. Although hydropower remains the world's leading renewable energy, solar and wind continue to dominate investment in new renewable capacity and are quickly becoming the highest-profile renewable energy sources.

This was despite the fact that new investments in these energy sources actually declined during 2012. Global investment in solar energy in 2012 was US$140.4 billion, an 11 percent decline from 2011, and wind investment was down 10 percent, to US$80.3 billion. But due to lower costs for both technologies, total installed capacities grew sharply.

Solar photovoltaic (PV) installed capacity grew by 41 percent in 2012, reaching 100 gigawatts (GW). Over the past five years alone, installed PV capacity grew by a massive 900 percent, from 10 GW in 2007. The countries with the most installed PV capacity today are Germany (32.4 GW), Italy (16.4 GW), the United States (7.2 GW), and China (7.0 GW). Installed capacity for concentrating solar thermal power (CSP) reached 2.55 GW, with 970 megawatts (MW) alone added in 2012.