For the first time, renewable energy plus nuclear — sources that don’t directly emit greenhouse gases — generate more than 40 per cent of global demand for electricity, says a new report from an international research group.
Renewable power generation provided a record 32 per cent of global electricity last year, while nuclear power contributed nine per cent, down slightly from 9.1 per cent in 2023, a report by energy think-tank Ember said on Tuesday. Overall electricity demand grew four per cent, driven by heat waves and data centres.
Solar energy is doubling every three years globally, says Richard Black, policy head at Ember Energy, a European research group. Nearly half the growth is in China, but the curve is up in many regions, including California and Texas in the U.S., Hungary, Spain, Chile and Pakistan, he said.
Energy security fears, exacerbated by a trade war prompted by U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, could further boost demand for renewable power this year, Ember electricity and data analyst Euan Graham told Reuters.
The ongoing threat of tariffs has advocates saying it’s time for Canada to focus on ramping up the transition to clean energy. But others say it is also an opportunity to build more pipelines in Canada as a way to improve access to oil markets other than the U.S.
The tariffs have sent markets from energy and equities plummeting and stoked concerns about a global recession.
Graham said though it was too early to tell whether the tariff fallout would impact electricity demand this year, renewable power could benefit.
“Countries are thinking about their security and energy security more than ever before, and I think that means homegrown renewable power like wind and solar becomes more and more attractive,” he said.
The growth of renewable power generation — including wind, hydro and solar — in the global electricity mix in 2024 beat the previous year’s 30 per cent record, Ember’s Global Electricity Review showed.
“Despite geopolitical and economic headwinds, the renewables industry delivered an additional 858 TWh of generation to the system last year — more than the combined annual electricity consumption of the U.K. and France,” Bruce Douglas, CEO of the Global Renewables Alliance, said in a statement accompanying the report.
Scientists set out to explore the impact of covering every rooftop on Earth with solar panels. Their research found that swapping traditional energy sources for rooftop solar could actually cool the planet — lowering global temperatures by up to 0.13°C.
AI, electrification, heat waves drive up power demand
The rise in electricity consumption for artificial intelligence, data centres, electric vehicles and heat pumps contributed 0.7 per cent of the global demand growth last year, the report showed.
Heat waves in 2024 increased electricity demand for cooling, which added a further 0.7 per cent, or 208 terrawatt hours (TWh), to the global total, it said.
Electricity generation from oil, gas and coal still climbed last year with unprecedented heat waves blistering the U.S., China and India, boosting demand for cooling.
“That increase in demand during those very hot periods accounted for almost all of the increase in fossil fuel generation last year,” Black said.
Delhi has recorded a second straight day of record-breaking temperatures at 52.9 C, and red alert health notices have been issued for several parts of India due to extreme heat.
Gas power plants contributed 22 per cent of global electricity production, little changed from 2023. Coal remained the largest source of generation, providing 34 per cent of the global share, down from 36 per cent.
Canada lags in solar and wind
Nicole Dusyk. senior policy adviser at the International Institute for Sustainable Development, a Canadian think-tank, says 70 per cent of Canada’s electricity comes from renewables, but the growth of solar and wind is slower here than the global average. She suggests that’s due to the abundance of cheap hydroelectric resources that have already given Canada a very clean grid.
But with electrification growing, she says provinces need to remove barriers to renewable growth.
“They are the cheapest form of electricity, and so if we increase the share of wind and solar on our grids, it will drive down [electricity] costs for Canadians,” she said.
