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Renewable Energy 6 min read
The Most Used Sustainable Energy Sources Worldwide
Hydropower leads global renewable capacity, followed by wind and solar, with China as the top producer across several technologies.
Renewable energy is produced from inexhaustible or rapidly regenerating natural resources — sun, tides, wind, moving water, biomass and the earth's internal heat — offering a safer and more reliable alternative than fossil fuels.
- Hydro: global installed capacity exceeds 1,295 GW, over 54% of global renewable capacity; China leads and hosts the largest plant, Three Gorges (~22.5 GW)
- Wind: installed capacity surpassed 563 GW in 2018 (~24% of global renewable capacity); China (>184 GW) and the US (94 GW) lead
- Solar: over 486 GW of installed capacity, the 3rd largest sustainable source; China, US, Germany, Japan, Italy and India lead PV
- Biomass: 4th largest source, with over 117 GW of capacity; global bioenergy production grew from 317 TWh (2010) to over 495 TWh (2018)
- Geothermal: capacity exceeded 13.2 GW in 2018, with production above 85 TWh; the US, Philippines, Indonesia, Mexico and Italy are the largest producers
This data, referring to 2018, illustrates the global hierarchy of renewable sources and the concentration of installed capacity in a small group of leading countries.