Wind and Solar are the Fastest Electricity Sources to go from 100 to 1000 TWh
The power sectors of many countries are changing rapidly, largely due to the rise of wind and solar generation. Since the Paris Agreement in 2015, the combined share of wind and solar in the global electricity mix has increased from just 4.5% to 13.4%. This progress has made wind and solar the key solutions to combat climate change.
No other sources of electricity have ever grown from 100 TWh of generation to 1000 TWh faster. Solar and wind took just 8 and 12 years respectively, far ahead of gas (28 years), coal (32 years) and hydro (39 years). Like wind and solar, nuclear power also saw fast growth after it first passed 100 TWh in 1971, taking 12 years to pass 1000 TWh. However, now we have two clean sources growing even faster, and doing so at the same time.
Rapid wind and solar scale-up has been achieved by countries with different geographies, stages of economic development and political systems, demonstrating that we have all the tools necessary to make this fast change happen in power sectors across the globe.
There are many paths to a successful transition of the power sector and each country has different challenges to overcome. However, effective approaches have many things in common. Geography can be important, but it alone does not determine the ability to deploy wind and solar. Rapid large-scale deployment is driven by national or regional policy ambition, incentive mechanisms to increase demand and the removal of technical barriers to enable integration into the electricity mix.
Dataset
Sources of Electricity | Years from generating 100 TWh to generating 1000 TWh |
---|---|
Solar | 8 years |
Wind | 12 years |
Nuclear | 12 years |
Gas | 28 years |
Coal | 32 years |
Hydro | 39 years |
Data sources
Pinto et al. (2023) This graphic is based on a chart by Nat Bullard https://www.nathanielbullard.com/presentations