Abu Dhabi, UAE · 28 March 2025 — The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) released its Renewable Capacity Statistics 2025 report, confirming that 2024 was a record-breaking year for renewable energy deployment. The world added 585 gigawatts (GW) of new renewable power capacity, a 15.1% increase that brought the global total to 4,448 GW by the end of 2024. Despite this unprecedented growth, IRENA cautioned that the current trajectory falls short of the tripling target agreed at COP28 in Dubai.
The report, published annually and covering data through the end of the preceding calendar year, provides the most comprehensive global accounting of installed renewable energy capacity. The 2025 edition's figures for 2024 represent the largest single-year addition ever recorded.
Solar PV Dominates Growth
Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology was the overwhelming driver of new capacity in 2024. Over 451 GW of new solar PV was installed during the year, accounting for more than three-quarters of all new renewable capacity additions. By the end of 2024, total global solar PV capacity reached 1,865 GW — a 32.2% increase over the previous year.
Wind energy followed as the second-largest contributor, growing by 11.1% in 2024. Together, solar and wind accounted for 96.6% of all net renewable capacity additions during the year. Hydropower, bioenergy, geothermal, and marine energy made up the remaining 3.4%.
Annual global renewable energy capacity installations. Credit: IRENA Renewable Capacity Statistics 2025 / Bioenergy International
Regional Distribution
The geographic concentration of renewable energy deployment remained a defining feature of the 2024 data. Asia, driven primarily by China, contributed over two-thirds of the total increase in renewable capacity. China alone installed more renewable power than the rest of the world combined, continuing a pattern that has persisted for several years.
| Region | Share of 2024 Additions | Key Driver |
|---|---|---|
| Asia (primarily China) | ~69% | Solar PV and onshore wind |
| Europe | ~14% | Solar PV and offshore wind |
| North America | ~10% | Solar PV and onshore wind |
| South America | ~3% | Solar PV and hydropower |
| Africa | ~2% | Solar PV |
| Oceania / Middle East | ~2% | Solar PV |
The concentration of deployment in a handful of countries raises concerns about the equity and resilience of the energy transition. While China's rapid build-out has driven down global solar module prices — making renewables more affordable everywhere — it also means that progress toward global climate targets is disproportionately dependent on a single country's policy and industrial capacity.
The COP28 Tripling Target
At the COP28 climate summit in Dubai in December 2023, nearly 200 countries agreed to a landmark commitment to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030, using 2022 levels as the baseline. The 2022 baseline was approximately 3,383 GW, meaning the 2030 target requires reaching roughly 11,000 GW.
To achieve this, the world would need to maintain an annual growth rate of approximately 16.6%. In 2024, the growth rate was 15.1% — close, but below the required pace. IRENA Director-General Francesco La Camera urged governments to accelerate deployment:
"The record-breaking growth of renewable capacity in 2024 is a testament to the momentum of the energy transition. However, to achieve the tripling target set at COP28, we must sustain and accelerate this progress. The gap between current trajectories and our 2030 goals demands urgent action from governments to remove barriers, streamline permitting, and invest in grid infrastructure."
The International Energy Agency (IEA), in its Renewables 2024 report, projected that renewable capacity additions would continue to increase annually, potentially reaching nearly 940 GW per year by 2030. However, even under this optimistic scenario, the cumulative total would fall short of the tripling target unless growth rates accelerate significantly in the latter half of the decade.
Cost Competitiveness Drives Adoption
A key factor behind the record deployment is the continued decline in the cost of solar and wind energy. Solar PV module prices fell by approximately 20–30% in 2024 alone, driven by massive manufacturing scale-up in China and technological improvements in cell efficiency. Wind turbine costs also continued their downward trend, particularly for onshore installations.
This cost dynamic has shifted the renewable energy debate. Where solar and wind once required subsidies and feed-in tariffs to compete with coal and gas, they are now winning on price alone in many regions. The challenge has shifted from making renewables affordable to integrating them into existing grid infrastructure — a problem of engineering and regulation rather than economics.
Grid Integration and Structural Challenges
Despite the record numbers, IRENA and the IEA identified several structural barriers that could slow future growth:
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Grid infrastructure: Aging electricity grids in many countries cannot accommodate the rapid influx of variable renewable generation. Grid connection queues have lengthened, with some projects waiting years for approval to connect.
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Permitting delays: Complex and lengthy permitting processes remain a bottleneck, particularly in Europe. The EU has introduced measures to streamline permitting, but implementation varies widely across member states.
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Supply chain concentration: The solar PV supply chain remains heavily concentrated in China, creating vulnerabilities for countries seeking to diversify their sources of clean energy hardware.
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Energy storage: The rapid growth of variable renewables (solar and wind) increases the need for energy storage to balance supply and demand. Battery storage deployment is accelerating but remains far below the scale required.
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Financing in developing countries: While renewable energy is cost-competitive, the upfront capital costs remain a barrier in many developing economies, where financing costs are significantly higher than in industrialised nations.
Looking Ahead
The 2024 record demonstrates that the renewable energy transition is accelerating, but the gap between current progress and the COP28 tripling target remains a concern. IRENA's data shows that the world is on a trajectory to roughly double — not triple — renewable capacity by 2030 at current growth rates.
Closing this gap will require coordinated action across multiple fronts: faster permitting, increased grid investment, expanded energy storage, diversified supply chains, and improved access to financing for developing countries. The economic case for renewables has been largely won; the remaining challenges are structural, institutional, and political.
The 2025 data, which will be reported in IRENA's 2026 edition, will be a critical test of whether the momentum seen in 2024 can be sustained and accelerated — or whether the record year was a peak rather than a new baseline.
Sources
- IRENA, "Record-Breaking Annual Growth in Renewable Power Capacity," press release, March 2025 —
- IRENA, Renewable Capacity Statistics 2025 —
- IEA, Renewables 2024 report —
- Bioenergy International, "Record-breaking annual growth in renewable power capacity" —
- Renewables Now, "Global renewables capacity grows by 585 GW in 2024 – IRENA" —
FIRAT Editorial Board
Institutional Research Desk · Foresight Institute of Research and Translation
The collective editorial and research translation board of FIRAT, synthesising peer-reviewed evidence, policy briefs, and division milestones across our seven foundational research pillars.
