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Record clean-power growth in 2023 to spark ‘new era’ of fossil fuel decline

20 Apr 2023

 

The power sector is about to enter a "new era of falling fossil generation" as coal, oil and gas are pushed out of the grid by a record expansion of wind and solar power, according to new analysis by climate thinktank Ember. In 2022, the expansion of wind and solar met 80 per cent of the increase in electricity demand, Ember’s report shows. Combined with hydropower and bioenergy, renewables met 92 per cent of the rise, coming close to covering rising demand. Image: Marco Verch, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Flickr.

Wind and solar power reached a record 12 per cent of global electricity generation last year, according to Ember’s global electricity review 2023. This drove up the overall share of low-carbon electricity to almost 40 per cent of total generation.

With even faster growth set to continue this year, Ember says 2022 is likely to mark a “turning point” when global fossil fuel electricity generation peaked and began to fall.

The think tank forecasts that, by the end of 2023, more than 100 per cent of the growth in electricity demand will be covered by low-carbon sources. 

Experts broadly agree that global electricity generation needs to be completely decarbonised by 2040 if the world is to stay on track for its climate targets. 

Ember says rapidly expanding renewables mean that the “phasedown” of gas as well as coal power required for this transition is “now within reach”. However, it also says stalling nuclear and hydropower construction needs to be reversed.

Meeting demand

Global electricity demand has been rising for decades, due to rising populations, increasing industrialisation and higher incomes.

Moreover, this trend is set to continue, particularly as more people switch their fossil fuel-driven cars and heaters to electric models. Demand will also increase as power is supplied to the 775 million people who still lack access to electricity.