Ember: Record renewables growth led by solar helped push clean power past 40% of global electricity in 2024,
but heatwave-related demand spikes led to a small increase in fossil generation.
About
Ember’s sixth annual Global Electricity Review provides the first comprehensive overview of changes in global electricity generation in 2024, based on reported data. It presents the trends underlying them, and the likely implications for energy sources and power sector emissions in the near future. With the report, Ember is also releasing the first comprehensive, free dataset of global electricity generation in 2024.
The report analyses electricity data from 215 countries, including the latest 2024 data for 88 countries representing 93% of global electricity demand, as well as estimates for 2024 for all other countries. The analysis also includes data for 13 geographic and economic groupings, including Africa, Asia, the EU and the G7. It also dives deeper into the seven countries and regions with the highest electricity demand, which account for 72% of global electricity demand. In addition to electricity generation data, the report uses weather and capacity data to uncover the underlying trends shaping the global power sector.
We make all of the data freely accessible to empower others to do their own analysis and help speed up the switch to clean electricity.
Executive summary
World surpasses 40% clean power as renewables see record rise
Clean power surpassed 40% of global electricity generation in 2024, driven by record growth in renewables, especially solar. Heatwaves contributed to high growth in electricity demand which resulted in a small increase in fossil generation, driving up power sector emissions to an all-time high.
Solar power has become the engine of the global energy transition, with both solar generation and capacity installations setting new records in 2024. Solar generation has maintained its high growth rate, doubling in the last three years, and adding more electricity than any other source over that period. At the same time, electricity demand saw a significant rise in 2024, outpacing the growth in clean electricity. Expanding technologies such as AI, data centres, electric vehicles and heat pumps are already contributing to the rise in global demand. However, the main reason why electricity demand growth was elevated in 2024 compared to 2023 was an increase in air conditioning use during heatwaves. This accounted for almost all of the small rise in fossil generation.
Solar and wind boom pushes world past 40% clean electricity in 2024
Share of global electricity generation (%)
A stacked area chart showing the share of global electricity generation from different sources from 2000 to 2024. The chart highlights that clean electricity surpassed 40% of global generation in 2024. Hydro contributed 14%, nuclear 9%, wind 8%, solar 7%, and other renewables 3%. The share of clean electricity has grown over time, with significant increases in wind and solar since 2010.
