Power plants supplied a rapidly growing electricity system in 2024. Global generation rose by more than 1,200 TWh, while renewables and nuclear supplied more than 80% of that increase; the figures below show how capacity, technology, costs, investment and emissions compare across explicit periods and geographies.
Key Power Plant Statistics
The most useful headline figures are:
- In 2024, global electricity generation increased by more than 1,200 TWh, or 4% year on year.
- During 2010–2023, global electricity generation grew at an average annual rate of 2.6%.
- In 2024, fossil fuels produced nearly 60% of global electricity generation.
- In 2024, coal produced 35% of global electricity generation.
- In 2024, renewables supplied one-third of global electricity generation.
- In 2024, nuclear power supplied 9% of global electricity generation.
- In 2024, global renewable power capacity additions reached about 700 GW, an estimated 25% increase from 2023.
- In 2024, solar PV capacity additions totaled about 550 GW globally, nearly 30% above 2023.
- In 2024, installed solar PV capacity worldwide reached an estimated 2.2 TW.
- In 2024, more than 7 GW of nuclear power capacity entered service, 33% more than in 2023.
- As of February 2025, 62 nuclear reactors were under construction in 15 countries, totaling nearly 70 GW of gross capacity.
- In the IEA main case, annual global renewable additions are forecast to rise from 666 GW in 2024 to almost 935 GW in 2030.
- For 2024–2030, solar PV and wind are forecast to account for 95% of renewable capacity additions worldwide.
- In 2023, the global weighted-average LCOE of newly commissioned utility-scale solar PV was USD 0.044/kWh.
- In 2023, new onshore wind projects had a global weighted-average capacity factor of 35.9%.
- In 2024, global energy investment was set to exceed USD 3 trillion, including USD 2 trillion for clean-energy technologies and infrastructure.
- In 2024, global power-grid investment was expected to reach USD 400 billion.
- In 2023, more than 50 GW of unabated coal-fired generation was approved, almost all in China.
- In 2023, the U.S. eGRID national average output emission rate was 770.884 lb CO2e/MWh.
Contents
- Global electricity demand and power-plant scale
- Generation mix by power-plant technology and region
- Installed capacity and construction activity
- Renewable power-plant trends and forecasts
- Power-plant costs and performance
- Investment, grids and emissions outcomes
Global Electricity Demand and Power-Plant Scale
The IEA’s Electricity – Global Energy Review 2025 reports a sharp increase in the amount of electricity the global power-plant fleet had to supply in 2024. Generation increased by more than 1,200 TWh, equal to a 4% year-on-year rise, compared with an average annual growth rate of 2.6% during 2010–2023. (IEA, Electricity – Global Energy Review 2025)
Demand growth was distributed across major consuming sectors:
- Buildings increased electricity consumption by more than 600 TWh, or 5%, worldwide in 2024.
- Industry represented nearly 40% of total global electricity-demand growth in 2024, while industrial electricity use grew by nearly 4%.
- Global transport-sector electricity consumption increased by more than 8% in 2024.
- Renewables and nuclear power supplied more than 80% of the increase in global electricity generation in 2024.
These are demand and generation changes for the world in 2024, not a count of individual plants or a measure of household ownership. They show the scale of output that the power system had to accommodate.
Generation Mix by Power-Plant Technology and Region
The 2024 global generation mix still depended heavily on fossil-fuel plants, even as low-carbon technologies supplied most incremental growth. The IEA reported the following shares of global electricity generation:
| Technology | Share of global generation, 2024 |
|---|---|
| Fossil fuels | Nearly 60% |
| Coal | 35% |
| Natural gas | More than 20% |
| Renewables | One-third |
| Hydropower | 14% |
| Wind | 8% |
| Solar photovoltaic | 7% |
| Nuclear | 9% |
Coal and gas are included within the fossil-fuel total, while hydropower, wind and solar are components of the renewable total; the percentages therefore describe overlapping levels of the same generation mix rather than additive categories. (IEA, Electricity – Global Energy Review 2025)
Regional mixes differed materially in 2024:
- Coal supplied almost 60% of China’s electricity generation.
- Coal supplied nearly three-quarters of India’s electricity.
- Natural gas supplied over 40% of U.S. electricity generation.
The regional figures are generation shares for China, India and the United States, not the shares of installed capacity. That distinction matters because a plant’s nameplate capacity and its actual electricity output measure different things.
Installed Capacity and Power-Plant Construction Activity
Capacity additions indicate how quickly the physical fleet is changing. The IEA estimates that global renewable power capacity additions reached about 700 GW in 2024, a 25% increase from 2023; the estimate combines actual and estimated values. (IEA, Electricity – Global Energy Review 2025)
Solar was the largest component of that expansion:
- Solar PV accounted for more than three-quarters of global renewable capacity additions in 2024.
- Global solar PV additions totaled about 550 GW in 2024, nearly 30% above 2023, and installed solar PV capacity reached an estimated 2.2 TW worldwide.
- Annual global wind additions were about 120 GW in 2024.
- China connected almost two-thirds of the renewable capacity added to the global grid in 2024.
| Geography and technology | Capacity added in 2024 | Comparison or status |
|---|---|---|
| China solar PV | More than 340 GW | Up 30% from 2023 |
| United States solar PV | Almost 50 GW | Added to the grid |
| India solar PV | Around 30 GW | Almost triple its 2023 addition |
| Brazil solar PV | More than 16.5 GW | 2024 addition |
China, the United States, India and Brazil figures are reported additions for their respective solar PV fleets. The global 2024 renewable and solar totals are partly estimated, so they should not be read as fully observed final totals. (IEA, Electricity – Global Energy Review 2025)
Nuclear construction also remained active. More than 7 GW entered service in 2024, 33% more than in 2023; installed nuclear capacity reached 420 GW after those additions, and nine reactor construction starts represented 11 GW of expected capacity.
As of February 2025, 62 reactors were under construction in 15 countries, totaling nearly 70 GW of gross capacity based on the IAEA PRIS database. (IEA, Electricity – Global Energy Review 2025)
Renewable Power-Plant Trends and Forecasts
The IEA’s Renewables 2024 main case describes a forecast, not an observed outcome. It projects annual global renewable capacity additions rising from 666 GW in 2024 to almost 935 GW in 2030, with more than 5,520 GW of renewable capacity added during 2024–2030. (IEA, Electricity – Renewables 2024)
The forecast mix is concentrated in two technologies:
- Solar PV and wind are forecast to account for 95% of renewable capacity additions worldwide through 2030.
- Annual hydropower additions are forecast at 20–30 GW per year during 2024–2030, with more than 165 GW of new hydropower capacity forecast to become operational over that period.
- China is forecast to install 3,207 GW of new renewable electricity capacity during 2024–2030 and to account for almost 60% of global annual renewable-capacity additions in 2030.
- India’s annual renewable-capacity additions are forecast to rise from 15 GW in 2023 to 62 GW in 2030.
These are IEA main-case forecasts and may differ from actual deployment because of policy, financing, permitting, grid and supply-chain conditions. The forecast period and the baseline year vary by measure, so the figures should be compared only within their stated definitions.
Power-Plant Costs and Performance
IRENA’s Renewable power generation costs in 2023 reports global weighted averages for newly commissioned utility-scale projects. These are generation-cost and project-performance measures, not retail electricity prices.
| Technology and measure | Earlier value | 2023 value |
|---|---|---|
| Utility-scale solar PV LCOE | USD 0.460/kWh in 2010 | USD 0.044/kWh, 90% lower |
| Utility-scale solar PV installed cost | USD 908/kW in 2022 | USD 758/kW |
| New onshore wind installed cost | USD 1,322/kW in 2022 | USD 1,154/kW, 13% lower |
| New onshore wind LCOE | USD 0.035/kWh in 2022 | USD 0.033/kWh, 3% lower |
The global weighted-average LCOE of newly commissioned utility-scale solar PV fell 12% from 2022 to 2023, reaching USD 0.044/kWh. The global weighted-average LCOE of newly commissioned offshore wind plants fell 7% over the same period. (IRENA, Renewable power generation costs in 2023)
Performance also varies by technology. New onshore wind plants had a global weighted-average capacity factor of 35.9% in 2023, compared with 53.5% for new hydropower plants.
Renewable capacity installed since 2000 was estimated to reduce power-sector fuel costs by at least USD 409 billion in 2023; IRENA presents this as an estimated saving attributable to that capacity. (IRENA, Renewable power generation costs in 2023)
Investment, Grids and Emissions Outcomes
The IEA’s World Energy Investment 2024 places power plants within a wider infrastructure system. Global energy investment was set to exceed USD 3 trillion in 2024, including USD 2 trillion directed to clean-energy technologies and infrastructure; these 2024 values are estimates. (IEA, Overview and key findings – World Energy Investment 2024)
Key investment measures for 2024 were:
- Power-sector solar PV investment was projected to exceed USD 500 billion, more than investment in all other generation sources combined.
- Global power-grid investment was expected to reach USD 400 billion, after remaining near USD 300 billion annually since 2015.
- Advanced economies and China accounted for 80% of global power-grid spending.
- Battery-storage investment was expected to exceed USD 50 billion globally.
- Nuclear investment was projected at USD 80 billion, nearly double its 2018 level.
The same source reported more than 50 GW of unabated coal-fired generation approved in 2023, almost all in China. New gas-fired power capacity approved and coming online remained around 50–60 GW per year in 2024. (IEA, Overview and key findings – World Energy Investment 2024)
For a measured emissions benchmark, the U.S. EPA eGRID 2023 national average output emission rate was 770.884 lb CO2e/MWh. The component national averages were 767.209 lb CO2/MWh, 0.057 lb CH4/MWh and 0.008 lb N2O/MWh; these are U.S. power-sector averages for the eGRID reporting system, not global plant-level rates. (EPA, Summary Data)
The eGRID subregional range was also wide in 2023: New York Upstate (NYUP) had a total output rate of 242.776 lb CO2e/MWh, while Puerto Rico (PRMS) had 1,548.530 lb CO2e/MWh. These subregion values are output emission rates and should not be interpreted as generation shares or as direct measures of individual plant efficiency. (EPA, Summary Data)