The renewable energy sector was one of the very few that successfully overcame the coronavirus crisis in 2020. As world GDP plummeted as a result of the pandemic, the start-up of new electricity generation facilities using clean sources grew at a rapid rate. record rate of 10.3% in the world as a whole, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA, for its acronym in English).

Spain, after a five-year hiatus due to the approved regulatory cut on old premiums, stepped on the 'green' accelerator and increased its installed capacity by 7.9% compared to 2019. The country was once again one of the eight great economies of the planet by accumulated investment in this sector, within a select list led, in this order, by giants with a much higher GDP such as China, the US, Brazil, India, Germany, Japan and Canada.

Within the European continent, only Germany and the Netherlands surpassed Spain in a new installation of renewable sources simultaneously with the emergence of Covid.

In total,

4,330 new megawatts

were put into operation

.

In any case, these are facilities linked to the renewable energy auction held in 2018 by the PP Government and other investments carried out in the country without any type of aid or public coverage.

To this figure will be added in the coming years the 3,000 megawatts of power awarded by the current Government last January.

The new installation of renewables and the coincidence of favorable weather conditions of wind, sun and water meant that 53% of the electricity consumed in the country in 2020 already had a clean origin.

This is great news for the consumer not only because of its positive environmental effect, but also because it contributes to reducing the enormous dependence on foreign energy that drags the country and helps reduce the trade balance.

The growth of renewables coincided with the slowdown and dismantling of the most polluting energies.

Globally, fossil fuel power generation capacity fell by 6.4%, weighed down by the closure of coal and fuel thermal plants in North America, Europe and, for the first time, Eurasia (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russian Federation and Turkey).

In Spain, 2020 was the great year of the closure of coal with the shutdown of up to seven electricity groups near the mining basins.

Rise of renewable energies

These numbers tell an extraordinary story of resilience and hope.

Despite all the difficulties and uncertainty that 2020 brought, renewable energy emerged as a source of undeniable optimism for a better, more equitable, resilient, clean and fair future, ”said

Francesco La Camera,

CEO of IRENA .

The international agency trusts that this growth will continue over the next few years in the heat of the incentive mechanisms and aid packages put in place around the world to promote the recovery of the economy after the black 2020. "Despite the difficulties of This period, the year 2020 marks the beginning of the decade of renewables. Costs are falling, markets for clean technologies are growing and the benefits of the energy transition have never been seen so clearly before ", concludes the Italian manager.

At the end of 2020, global renewable generation capacity was 2,799 gigawatts (GW), with hydropower retaining the largest share despite the rapid growth of solar and wind power.

China and the United States were the two most prominent growth markets in 2020. The Asian country is the leader in installed capacity, to which it added 136 new GW in 2020, 31 times more than Spain and four times more than the United States, a comparable economic power.

Africa continued its sustained expansion with an increase of 2.6 GW, slightly more than in 2019, while Oceania remained the fastest growing region (+ 18.4%), although it represents a small share of global capacity and almost all its expansion took place in Australia.

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