In 2023, net solar power generation in the United States reached its highest point yet at 164.5 terawatt hours of solar thermal and photovoltaic (PV) power. Solar power generation has increased drastically over the past two decades, especially since 2011, when it hovered just below two terawatt hours.

The U.S. solar industry

In the United States, an exceptionally high number of solar-related jobs are based in California. With a boost from state legislation, California has long been a forerunner in solar technology. In the second quarter of 2022, it had a cumulative solar PV capacity of more than 37 gigawatts. Outside of California, Texas, Florida, and North Carolina were the states with the largest solar PV capacity.

Clean energy in the U.S.
In recent years, solar power generation has seen more rapid growth than wind power in the United States. However, among renewables used for electricity, wind has been a more common and substantial source for the past decade. Wind power surpassed conventional hydropower as the largest source of renewable electricity in 2019. While there are major environmental costs often associated with the construction and operation of large hydropower facilities, hydro remains a vital source of electricity generation for the United States.

Solar energy accounted for some 5.6 percent of electricity generation in the United States in 2023, up from a 4.8 percent share a year earlier. California was the state with the largest percentage of its electricity generation covered by solar, with approximately 27.3 percent.

The United States consumed over 877 trillion British thermal units of solar thermal and photovoltaic energy in 2023. This was the highest amount consumed yet and an increase of over 100 trillion British thermal units compared to the previous year.

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.

Since 2009, global solar energy production continuously rose to its peak, at over one petawatt hours in 2022. This represent an increase of roughly 25.6 percent from the previous year. Overall, figures increased by more than one petawatt hours in the period of consideration.

The UK's energy use from renewable and waste sources, by source (for example, hydroelectric power, wind, wave, solar, and so on) and industry (SIC 2007 section - 21 categories), 1990 to 2022.

Solar energy accounted for roughly 5.5 percent of electricity generation worldwide in 2023, up from a 4.6 percent share a year earlier. That year, wind and solar generated nearly 12 percent of global electricity.

Global consumption of renewable energy has increased significantly over the last two decades. Consumption levels nearly reached 90.23 exajoules in 2023. This upward trend reflects the increasing adoption of clean energy technologies worldwide. However, despite its rapid growth, renewable energy consumption still remains far below that of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels still dominate energy landscape While renewable energy use has expanded, fossil fuels continue to dominate the global energy mix. Coal consumption reached 164 exajoules in 2023, marking its highest level to date. Oil consumption also hit a record high in 2023, exceeding 4.5 billion metric tons for the first time. Natural gas consumption has remained relatively stable in recent years, hovering around 4 trillion cubic m annually. These figures underscore the ongoing challenges in transitioning to a low-carbon energy system. Renewable energy investments The clean energy sector has experienced consistent growth over the past decade, with investments more than doubling from 263 billion U.S. dollars in 2014 to 619 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. China has emerged as the frontrunner in renewable energy investment, contributing 273 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. This substantial funding has helped propel the renewable energy industry forward.

This dataset contains Saudi Arabia Percentage of Housing Units Which Use Solar Energy in the Administrative Region.

Data from General Authority for Statistics . Export API data for more datasets to advance energy economics research.

Data from the Household Energy Survey

This dataset contains Saudi Arabia Percentage of Households Who Are Willing to Use Solar Energy in Their Houses in the Administrative Regions.

Data from General Authority for Statistics . Export API data for more datasets to advance energy economics research.

Data from the Household Energy Survey

United States US: Electricity Production From Renewable Sources: Excluding Hydroelectric data was reported at 317,421,000,000.000 kWh in 2015. This records an increase from the previous number of 298,023,000,000.000 kWh for 2014. United States US: Electricity Production From Renewable Sources: Excluding Hydroelectric data is updated yearly, averaging 12,867,000,000.000 kWh from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2015, with 56 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 317,421,000,000.000 kWh in 2015 and a record low of 122,000,000.000 kWh in 1960. United States US: Electricity Production From Renewable Sources: Excluding Hydroelectric data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.World Bank.WDI: Energy Production and Consumption. Electricity production from renewable sources, excluding hydroelectric, includes geothermal, solar, tides, wind, biomass, and biofuels.; ; IEA Statistics © OECD/IEA 2014 (http://www.iea.org/stats/index.asp), subject to https://www.iea.org/t&c/termsandconditions/; Sum; Restricted use: Please contact the International Energy Agency for third-party use of these data.

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.

Consumption of solar energy in the United Kingdom increased significantly over the last few years, totaling around one million metric tons of oil equivalent in 2021. This was an decrease of 65 thousand metric tons compared to the previous year.

In 2023, China was the leading country in the world based on solar energy consumption share, at 35.6 percent. Meanwhile, the United States accounted for approximately 14.7 percent of the world's solar consumption that year, making it the second-largest solar power consumer worldwide.

In 2023, renewable energy consumption in China reached 27.6 exajoules, more than any other country in the world. Renewable sources such as geothermal, wind, solar, biomass, and waste were included in this measurement, while cross-border electricity trade was not taken into account. Hydropower in China China is by far the leading consumer of hydropower, with over three times the consumption of other leading countries such as Canada and Brazil. Several of the world’s hydroelectric dams with the highest generating capacity are located in China, many of which were constructed in the past two decades. The Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River was completed in 2012 to become the largest in the world. Energy consumption in the United States After China, the United States was the second-highest consumer of renewable energy in the world. Both countries also consumed the most primary energy overall. The United States strives to achieve energy independence in order to reduce imports of foreign energy sources. As renewable energy gains momentum in a fossil-fuel dominated industry, renewable production in the United States has slightly exceeded the country’s consumption in recent years, and additionally, have both more than doubled since 1975.

The solar energy capacity in the south Asian country of India peaked at some 73.12 gigawatts in 2023, an increase from a capacity of nearly ten gigawatts in the previous year. In the period of consideration, figures presented a trend of continuous growth.

Solar energy generation in Argentina increased by more than 150-fold in just six years. In 2022, the South American country generated roughly 2.9 terawatt hours of solar power, up from 16.4 gigawatt hours in 2017. In comparison to the previous year, this represented an increase of roughly 30 percent. Even so, the participation of solar PV in Argentina's electricity demand remains at some two percent.

Google’s energy consumption has increased over the last few years, reaching 25.9 terawatt hours in 2023, up from 12.8 terawatt hours in 2019. The company has made efforts to make its data centers more efficient through customized high-performance servers, using smart temperature and lighting, advanced cooling techniques, and machine learning. Datacenters and energy Through its operations, Google pursues a more sustainable impact on the environment by creating efficient data centers that use less energy than the average, transitioning towards renewable energy, creating sustainable workplaces, and providing its users with the technological means towards a cleaner future for the future generations. Through its efficient data centers, Google has also managed to divert waste from its operations away from landfills. Reducing Google’s carbon footprint Google’s clean energy efforts is also related to their efforts to reduce their carbon footprint. Since their commitment to using 100 percent renewable energy, the company has met their targets largely through solar and wind energy power purchase agreements and buying renewable power from utilities. Google is one of the largest corporate purchasers of renewable energy in the world.

In 2023, Luxembourg was the leading country in solar energy penetration, with solar power accounting for almost 24 percent of the country's electricity mix that year. Malta followed with a share of solar of more than 20 percent. On average, the share of electricity generation from solar energy worldwide was roughly 5.5 percent in 2023. In comparison with the previous year, figures increased by almost one percentage point. Solar energy generation worldwide In total, solar energy production reached 1.3 petawatt hours in 2022, increasing by some 30 percent when compared to the previous year. Solar energy production was the highest in China, which generated over 584 terawatt hours of solar power in 2023. The United States was the country with the second-highest solar energy production that year, with some 238 terawatt hours generated. China’s solar photovoltaic industry Aside for being the largest solar energy producer worldwide, China accounts for the largest production of solar energy components. In 2022, the country was responsible for almost 78 percent of the world's solar photovoltaic module production. Most of the largest solar component manufacturers worldwide are based in China. For instance, photovoltaic company LONGi was the leading solar ingot and wafer manufacturer worldwide, reaching a production output of 122 gigawatts in 2023.

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.