According to preliminary statistics released by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), 152 GW of renewable generation capacity were added in 2015, an 8.3% increase over 2014 installations, raising the global renewable capacity to 1,985 GW.
Wind capacity additions reached 63 GW (+17%), due to a 45% drop in the price of onshore wind turbines since 2010. An 80% fall in solar PV modules over the same period boosted solar installations and 47 GW of new PV capacity were added in 2015. Hydropower capacity increased by 35 GW (+3%), while both bioenergy and geothermal energy capacity increased by 5% each (5 GW and 1 GW respectively).
Asia accounted for 58% of installations in 2015 (+12.4%), while capacity increased by 24 GW (5.2%) in Europe and 20 GW (6.3%) in North America.
At year end 2015, hydropower capacity accounted for more than 60% of global renewable capacities (1,209 GW), with the bulk of which consisting of large-scale power plants. Wind and solar energy accounted for most of the remainder, with an installed capacity of 432 GW (22%) and 227 GW (11%), respectively. Other renewables included 104 GW of bioenergy, 13 GW of geothermal energy and about 500 MW of marine energy (tide, wave and ocean).
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