Photovoltaic energy dominated the global energy matrix in 2019. With a record 118 GW in installed power, solar surpassed all other technologies in dozens of countries, including Australia, Italy, Namibia, Uruguay and the United States. This is what a survey carried out by the consultancy BNEF (BloombergNEF) showed.
In the Power Transition Trends 2020, solar energy represented 45% of the expansion of the electrical matrix in the world, while fossil sources, 25%. In total, 81 countries installed at least 1 MW of photovoltaic sources last year.
The study also highlighted the advances that solar energy has made in a decade, which jumped from 43,7 GW in 2010 to 651 GW at the end of 2019, thus surpassing wind (644 GW) and becoming the fourth largest source of energy with based on installed power capacity. The ranking is led by coal-fired thermal plants (2.089 GW), followed by gas plants (1.812 GW) and hydroelectric plants (1.160 GW).
“Significant drops in the costs of solar equipment, that is, the modules that are placed on rooftops and in large power plants, have made this technology widely available to homes, businesses and grids. Photovoltaic solar energy is ubiquitous and has become a worldwide phenomenon”, said Luiza Demoro, BNEF analyst and lead author of the study.
The survey also showed that photovoltaic and wind energy installations were mainly concentrated in the richest nations during the first half of the 2010s, but this has changed recently.
In a group that includes almost all OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) nations, solar and wind have accounted for the majority of new capacity built each year since 2011. Among a group of non-OECD nations, OECD plus Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Turkey have both accounted for the majority of annual construction each year since 2016.
About the report
The Power Transition Trends 2020 report is based on data from 138 countries, collected individually until 2019. This encompasses all countries with more than two million inhabitants.
