The leading countries for installed renewable energy in 2023 were China, the United States, and Brazil. China was the leader in renewable energy installations, with a capacity of around 1,453 gigawatts. The U.S., in second place, had a capacity of around 388 gigawatts. Renewable energy is an important step in addressing climate change and mitigating the consequences of this phenomenon. Renewable energy capacity and productionRenewable power capacity is defined as the maximum generating capacity of installations that use renewable sources to generate electricity. The share of renewable energy over the world’s power production has increased in recent years, surpassing 30 percent in 2023. Renewable energy consumption varies from country to country. The leading countries for renewable energy consumption are China, the United States, and Brazil.Renewable energy sourcesThere are various sources of renewable energy used globally, including bioenergy, solar energy, hydropower, and wind energy, to name a few. Globally, China and Canada are the top two countries in terms of generating the most energy through hydropower. Regarding solar power, China, the United States, and Japan boast the highest installed capacities worldwide.

China was the largest producer of renewable energy in the world. In 2020, the country produced nearly 861.3 billion kilowatt hours of renewable energy. The United States and Germany followed as the second and third largest producers, at 608 and 256.8 billion kilowatt hours, respectively. China’s push for an energy transition

As part of its Renewable Energy Development Plan series, China has made energy transition a key policy issue. Between 2010 and 2020, China’s renewable energy capacity nearly quadrupled. The country’s installed solar capacity increased substantially, from just four gigawatt hours in 2012 to more than 250 gigawatt hours in 2020. Despite these developments, China is still the leading emitter of CO2 by a considerable margin.

Renewable energy: a cheaper alternative?

The cost of renewable energy sources fell considerably during the last decade. At the same time, global investments towards energy transition are on the rise, reaching 755 billion U.S. dollars in 2021. As an energy supply shortage led to skyrocketing prices in Europe and Asia that year, energy independence and less reliance on fossil fuels as a source of energy are becoming more and more attractive to nations around the world.

The average for 2022 based on 189 countries was 17.69 million kilowatts. The highest value was in China: 1156.13 million kilowatts and the lowest value was in Bermuda: 0 million kilowatts. The indicator is available from 1980 to 2023. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

European Renewable Power Generation by Country, 2023 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

As of 2022, Egypt and Zambia were the leading African countries in terms of renewable energy production. Egypt registered a production volume reaching nearly 26,500 gigawatt hours, while that of Zambia stood at around 17,400 gigawatt hours. These countries were followed by Mozambique and Ethiopia. According to the source, Africa's total renewable energy production exceeded 204,500 gigawatt hours in the said year.

European Solar Energy Generation by Country, 2023 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

This table expresses the use of renewable energy as gross final consumption of energy. Figures are presented in an absolute way, as well as related to the total energy use in the Netherlands. The total gross final energy consumption in the Netherlands (the denominator used to calculate the percentage of renewable energy per ‘Energy sources and techniques’) can be found in the table as ‘Total, including non-renewables’ and Energy application ‘Total’. The gross final energy consumption for the energy applications ‘Electricity’ and ‘Heat’ are also available. With these figures the percentages of the different energy sources and applications can be calculated; these values are not available in this table. The gross final energy consumption for ‘Transport’ is not available because of the complexity to calculate this. More information on this can be found in the yearly publication ‘Hernieuwbare energie in Nederland’.

Renewable energy is energy from wind, hydro power, the sun, the earth, heat from outdoor air and biomass. This is energy from natural processes that is replenished constantly.

The figures are broken down into energy source/technique and into energy application (electricity, heat and transport).

This table focuses on the share of renewable energy according to the EU Renewable Energy Directive. Under this directive, countries can apply an administrative transfer by purchasing renewable energy from countries that have consumed more renewable energy than the agreed target. For 2020, the Netherlands has implemented such a transfer by purchasing renewable energy from Denmark. This transfer has been made visible in this table as a separate energy source/technique and two totals are included; a total with statistical transfer and a total without statistical transfer.

Figures for 2020 and before were calculated based on RED I; in accordance with Eurostat these figures will not be modified anymore. Inconsistencies with other tables undergoing updates may occur.

Data available from: 1990

Status of the figures: This table contains definite figures up to and including 2022 and figures of 2023 are revised provisional figures.

Changes as of January 2025 Renewable cooling has been added as Energy source and technique from 2021 onwards, in accordance with RED II. Figures for 2020 and earlier follow RED I definitions, renewable cooling isn’t a part of these definitions.
The energy application “Heat” has been renamed to “Heating and cooling”, in accordance with RED II definitions. RED II is the current Renewable Energy Directive which entered into force in 2021

Changes as of November 15th 2024 Figures for 2021-2023 have been adjusted. 2022 is now definitive, 2023 stays revised provisional. Because of new insights for windmills regarding own electricity use and capacity, figures on 2021 have been revised.

Changes as of March 2024: Figures of the total energy applications of biogas, co-digestion of manure and other biogas have been restored for 2021 and 2022. The final energy consumption of non-compliant biogas (according to RED II) was wrongly included in the total final consumption of these types of biogas. Figures of total biogas, total biomass and total renewable energy were not influenced by this and therefore not adjusted.

When will new figures be published? Provisional figures on the gross final consumption of renewable energy in broad outlines for the previous year are published each year in June. Revised provisional figures for the previous year appear each year in June.

In November all figures on the consumption of renewable energy in the previous year will be published. These figures remain revised provisional, definite figures appear in November two years after the reporting year. Most important (expected) changes between revised provisional figures in November and definite figures a year later are the figures on solar photovoltaic energy. The figures on the share of total energy consumption in the Netherlands could also still be changed by the availability of adjusted figures on total energy consumption.

Global RD&D in Renewable Energy Sources by Country, 2023 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

In 2023, around 87 percent of New Zealand's electricity came from renewable energy sources. In comparison, only about 1.5 percent of electricity in Bangladesh was generated from renewable energy that year.

Global RD&D in Renewable Energy Sources Share by Country (Million US Dollars PPP = 2020), 2023 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

In 2023, Germany accounted for the largest production of renewable energy in Europe, with approximately 274 terawatt-hours of energy generated. Norway was the second-largest producer, with some 151 terawatt-hours less than Germany. In both countries, renewable energy production increased in 2023 compared to 2023.Germany and the Norway were also among the largest renewable energy consumers in Europe in 2023, while the largest renewable energy capacity was installed in Germany.

This dataset is about countries in Middle Africa per year, featuring 4 columns: country, date, electricity production from oil sources, and renewable energy consumption. The preview is ordered by date (descending).

This dataset is about countries in Montenegro per year, featuring 4 columns: country, date, electricity production from hydroelectric sources, and renewable energy consumption. The preview is ordered by date (descending).

This dataset is about countries per year and is filtered where the country includes Liberia, featuring 4 columns: country, date, electricity production from renewable sources, excluding hydroelectric, and renewable energy consumption. The preview is ordered by date (descending).

This dataset is about countries in Africa, featuring 3 columns: country, electricity production from coal sources, and renewable energy consumption. The preview is ordered by population (descending).

In 2023, China was the country with the largest energy production from solar, with some 584 terawatt hours. The United States ranked second by a wide margin, with less than half of China's production. India and Japan were third and fourth in the ranking, respectively.

This scatter chart displays renewable energy consumption (% of total final energy consumption) against electricity production from natural gas sources (% of total) and is filtered where the country is Costa Rica. The data is about countries per year.

This scatter chart displays electricity production from renewable sources, excluding hydroelectric (% of total) against renewable energy consumption (% of total final energy consumption) and is filtered where the country is Georgia. The data is about countries per year.

This scatter chart displays electricity production from hydroelectric sources (% of total) against renewable energy consumption (% of total final energy consumption) and is filtered where the country is Bolivia. The data is about countries per year.

This scatter chart displays electricity production from oil sources (% of total) against renewable energy consumption (% of total final energy consumption) and is filtered where the country is Slovak Republic. The data is about countries per year.