Solar and wind share in power generation rise globally

By Zeynep Beyza Karabay

ANKARA

Solar and wind energy's share in electricity production from renewable sources rose globally while the share of hydro dropped in 2013, according to a report by the International Energy Agency.

In 2013, electricity production from solar energy rose by 34.3 percent to reach 137 terawatt hours. Electricity production from wind rose by 21.4 percent to reach 633 terawatt hours in the same period, the report says.

A terrawatt is equivalent to 1,000 gigawatt hours -- or 1 trillion watt hours. According to the online Energy Business Review, 1.5 terrawatts is enough to run the London metro system for 10 years.  

Electricity production from all renewable energy sources increased by 4.9 percent when compared to 2012, the report says. In 2013, 5,068 terawatt hours of electricity was produced from renewables while 4,829 terawatt hours was produced in 2102.

The most common definition of renewable energy, according to the Science Daily website, is energy derived from a resource that is replaced rapidly by a natural process, such as power generated from the sun or from the wind. It also includes energy from geothermal sources and tidal power.

Solar and wind energy's share of the power generated by all renewable energy -- 5,068 terawatt hours in 2013 -- rose while hydro's share dropped. Electricity generation from bioenergy, ocean and geothermal energy stayed the same.

While solar energy's share was 2.1 percent in 2012, this rose to 2.7 percent to equal 137 terawatt hours in 2013.  

Energy production's share from wind increased from 10.7 percent with 520 terawatt hours in 2012 to 633 terawatt hours with a 12.4 percent share in 2013, report says.

Hydro power's share in the total electricity production from renewable sources fell from 77.8 percent in 2012 to 75.5 percent in 2013.

In the same period, bioenergy's share of 7.8 percent in electricity generation from renewable energy stayed the same. Geothermal energy's share of 1.4 percent didn't change, either.

Total electricity generation from renewable energy sources is projected to be 5,414 terawatt hours in 2014, of which 721 terawatt hours will be from wind and 199 from solar.

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