According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the global renewable power capacity rose by 8.3% (+167 GW) to reach 2,179 GW in 2017, of which 1,152 GW for hydropower (53%), 514 GW of wind power (23%), 397 GW of solar energy (18%), 109 GW of bioenergy, 13 GW of geothermal and 500 MW of marine energy (tidal, wave and ocean energy).
The main driver behind this growth is solar energy with 94 GW of capacity increase (+32%), then wind energy with 47 GW (+10%), while hydropower (+21 GW, +2%) and bioenergy (+5 GW, +5%) increased slightly. Solar and wind facilities accounted for 85% of the new renewable capacity installed in 2017.
These capacities are spread mostly in Asia, which accounted for 64% of the new capacity in 2017 (+58% in 2016) resulting in a renewable energy capacity of 919 GW (42% of the global capacity). It was also the fastest growing region (+13%), while Europe gained the second rank in capacity expansion with an increase of 24 GW (+4.8%). In North America, capacity additions slowed down in 2017 (+16 GW, +4.9%) compared with the recent years' average (+25 GW/year).
75% of the global wind power expansion came from five countries: China (+15 GW), the USA (+ 6 GW), Germany (+6 GW), the UK (+4 GW) and India (+4 GW). As for solar energy, three countries accounted from most of the growth: China (+53 GW, +68%), India (+9.6 GW, +100 %) and Japan (+7 GW, +17%).
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