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7% of global electricity is generated from Solar

6.91 % Share of global electricity
45 gCO2eq/kWh Carbon Intensity
Solar

Solar energy harnesses the power of the sun to generate electricity, making it a clean and sustainable energy source. It is fundamentally driven by the conversion of sunlight, which is abundant and widely accessible, into electricity. This process capitalizes on the natural, continual radiation of the sun, making solar energy a key player in the global shift towards low-carbon, sustainable energy systems. Its applications range from small-scale residential setups to large solar farms that can contribute significantly to national grids. This adaptability, coupled with declining costs of installation, has positioned solar energy as an increasingly attractive solution to meet rising global electricity demands while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The generation of electricity from solar energy is primarily achieved through photovoltaic (PV) cells, which are made of semiconductor materials like silicon. When sunlight strikes these cells, it excites electrons, creating an electric current. This direct conversion of light into electricity makes the photovoltaic process efficient and reliable. Solar panels composed of multiple PV cells are installed on rooftops or ground-mounted systems, capturing sunlight throughout the day. In utility-scale solar farms, thousands of panels can generate large amounts of electricity, which is then fed into the power grid to be used by homes and businesses.

One major advantage of solar energy is its low carbon intensity, with an emission rate of 45 gCO2eq/kWh. When compared to fossil fuels such as coal (820 gCO2eq/kWh) and gas (490 gCO2eq/kWh), solar energy offers a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. This positions it alongside other low-carbon technologies like wind (11 gCO2eq/kWh) and nuclear (12 gCO2eq/kWh) in significantly reducing the carbon footprint of electricity generation. By implementing such low-carbon energy sources, nations can combat climate change while meeting their electricity needs sustainably.

Global solar deployment has made impressive strides, now generating approximately 6.91% of all electricity consumed globally. This growth reflects the increasing recognition and adoption of solar as a key component of the global energy transition. In countries like Australia, where solar accounts for 18% of electricity, and Spain and Greece both at 21%, solar energy is becoming a cornerstone of the energy mix. These figures underscore the potential for continued expansion, which is crucial for meeting both current and future electricity demands.

Moreover, individual countries showcase the broader impact of solar adoption. The United Arab Emirates, for instance, generates 8% of its electricity from solar, highlighting its commitment to clean energy despite being a major oil producer. The Netherlands also reports that 18% of its electricity comes from solar, which complements its efforts in carbon reduction. This widespread adoption demonstrates the versatility and effectiveness of solar power as a low-carbon energy solution across diverse regions.

In conjunction with wind and nuclear energy, solar is indispensable for achieving a cleaner and more sustainable energy future. The synergy between these clean energy sources offers a path toward an energy system that minimizes environmental impact and secures energy supplies. As global electricity consumption continues to grow, driven by trends like electrification and technological advancements, the expansion of solar, along with nuclear, remains critical to meeting these needs responsibly and sustainably. The drive towards solar and nuclear aligns with the urgent necessity to reduce emissions, create sustainable growth, and ensure energy security worldwide.

Country/Region kWh/person % TWh
Australia 1884.2 W 17.8% 49.8 TWh
Cook Islands 1356.2 W 50.0% 0.0 TWh
United Arab Emirates 1291.9 W 8.3% 13.7 TWh
Spain 1223.1 W 20.9% 58.6 TWh
Greece 1197.9 W 21.4% 12.3 TWh
Netherlands 1196.6 W 17.7% 21.6 TWh
Chile 1013.3 W 22.3% 19.9 TWh
Hungary 970.4 W 19.2% 9.4 TWh
Austria 966.0 W 11.2% 8.8 TWh
United States 882.6 W 6.9% 303.2 TWh
Guam 847.5 W 7.8% 0.1 TWh
Germany 839.6 W 14.1% 71.0 TWh
Cyprus 825.3 W 19.4% 1.1 TWh
Japan 820.3 W 10.0% 102.0 TWh
New Caledonia 801.0 W 7.4% 0.2 TWh
Bulgaria 785.8 W 14.4% 5.3 TWh
Belgium 762.4 W 10.6% 8.9 TWh
Israel 753.0 W 9.4% 7.0 TWh
Slovenia 698.6 W 8.7% 1.5 TWh
Estonia 687.5 W 10.5% 0.9 TWh
Malta 675.5 W 11.4% 0.4 TWh
EU 671.7 W 11.0% 302.7 TWh
Denmark 670.8 W 10.2% 4.0 TWh
Switzerland 664.0 W 7.5% 5.9 TWh
Portugal 644.2 W 11.8% 6.7 TWh
Republic of China (Taiwan) 639.1 W 5.2% 14.9 TWh
South Korea 632.5 W 5.3% 32.7 TWh
Seychelles 625.2 W 12.7% 0.1 TWh
Italy 601.9 W 11.3% 35.8 TWh
People's Republic of China 586.3 W 8.3% 834.1 TWh
Luxembourg 526.2 W 5.1% 0.3 TWh
Lithuania 494.0 W 11.2% 1.4 TWh
Poland 392.9 W 8.9% 15.2 TWh
Czechia 370.0 W 5.5% 4.0 TWh
France 354.8 W 4.2% 23.6 TWh
Brazil 353.7 W 9.8% 74.7 TWh
Sweden 345.9 W 2.1% 3.6 TWh
Oman 336.7 W 3.9% 1.7 TWh
Barbados 318.8 W 8.2% 0.1 TWh
South Africa 314.0 W 8.1% 19.9 TWh
Réunion 309.8 W 8.0% 0.3 TWh
Jordan 306.5 W 15.2% 3.5 TWh
Armenia 299.0 W 10.0% 0.9 TWh
Turkey 294.1 W 7.5% 25.7 TWh
Guadeloupe 285.9 W 6.7% 0.1 TWh
Aruba 278.3 W 3.0% 0.0 TWh
Latvia 270.9 W 6.7% 0.5 TWh
The World 263.5 W 6.9% 2132.2 TWh
Vietnam 259.3 W 8.4% 26.0 TWh
Martinique 257.5 W 6.0% 0.1 TWh
Puerto Rico 249.8 W 4.3% 0.8 TWh
Lebanon 242.5 W 31.0% 1.4 TWh
U.S. Virgin Islands 233.3 W 3.0% 0.0 TWh
United Kingdom 226.5 W 4.9% 15.6 TWh
Croatia 220.7 W 4.4% 0.9 TWh
Romania 219.7 W 7.5% 4.2 TWh
Finland 219.6 W 1.4% 1.2 TWh
Singapore 219.4 W 2.1% 1.3 TWh
Antigua & Barbuda 214.3 W 5.6% 0.0 TWh
Mexico 212.3 W 7.6% 27.6 TWh
Canada 208.9 W 1.3% 8.2 TWh
Panama 195.1 W 6.8% 0.9 TWh
Ireland 186.7 W 2.7% 1.0 TWh
French Polynesia 178.3 W 7.0% 0.1 TWh
North Macedonia 174.7 W 4.8% 0.3 TWh
El Salvador 172.8 W 15.3% 1.1 TWh
Namibia 172.1 W 11.0% 0.5 TWh
French Guiana 167.6 W 5.1% 0.1 TWh
Dominican Republic 161.5 W 6.9% 1.8 TWh
Uruguay 156.4 W 3.1% 0.5 TWh
Cape Verde 134.7 W 14.0% 0.1 TWh
Saudi Arabia 129.9 W 1.0% 4.3 TWh
Ukraine 126.7 W 4.6% 5.2 TWh
Montenegro 126.3 W 2.1% 0.1 TWh
Slovakia 123.2 W 2.3% 0.7 TWh
Mauritius 117.8 W 4.6% 0.1 TWh
Malaysia 117.3 W 2.1% 4.1 TWh
Maldives 114.1 W 7.1% 0.1 TWh
Bosnia & Herzegovina 106.7 W 2.2% 0.3 TWh
Albania 106.7 W 3.3% 0.3 TWh
Curaçao 104.6 W 2.2% 0.0 TWh
Kazakhstan 98.4 W 1.7% 2.0 TWh
Honduras 97.7 W 8.7% 1.0 TWh
Tonga 95.6 W 14.3% 0.0 TWh
India 93.0 W 6.5% 133.8 TWh
Samoa 92.3 W 13.3% 0.0 TWh
Argentina 86.7 W 2.5% 4.0 TWh
Thailand 86.1 W 2.6% 6.2 TWh
Kiribati 76.6 W 25.0% 0.0 TWh
Pakistan 76.0 W 10.3% 18.8 TWh
Sri Lanka 74.7 W 10.2% 1.7 TWh
New Zealand 71.5 W 0.8% 0.4 TWh
Norway 65.2 W 0.2% 0.4 TWh
Palestinian Territories 64.1 W 4.4% 0.3 TWh
Cambodia 61.4 W 5.0% 1.1 TWh
Colombia 61.4 W 3.7% 3.2 TWh
Bahrain 57.3 W 0.2% 0.1 TWh
St. Lucia 55.9 W 2.5% 0.0 TWh
Mongolia 55.4 W 1.8% 0.2 TWh
Bahamas 50.3 W 1.0% 0.0 TWh
Egypt 49.7 W 2.4% 5.7 TWh
Jamaica 45.8 W 2.9% 0.1 TWh
Moldova 45.6 W 2.1% 0.1 TWh
Morocco 43.5 W 3.5% 1.6 TWh
Tunisia 40.2 W 2.1% 0.5 TWh
Azerbaijan 39.7 W 1.4% 0.4 TWh
Kuwait 39.3 W 0.2% 0.2 TWh
Peru 38.1 W 2.0% 1.3 TWh
Senegal 32.6 W 6.9% 0.6 TWh
Philippines 32.0 W 2.9% 3.7 TWh
Vanuatu 31.2 W 12.5% 0.0 TWh
Mauritania 28.7 W 6.9% 0.1 TWh
Bolivia 27.8 W 2.8% 0.3 TWh
Hong Kong SAR China 26.9 W 0.4% 0.2 TWh
Belarus 25.2 W 0.5% 0.2 TWh
Eswatini 24.4 W 2.0% 0.0 TWh
Belize 24.3 W 1.4% 0.0 TWh
Guyana 24.2 W 1.5% 0.0 TWh
Congo - Kinshasa 20.8 W 12.7% 2.2 TWh
Russia 19.5 W 0.2% 2.8 TWh
Cuba 19.1 W 1.4% 0.2 TWh
Algeria 18.8 W 0.9% 0.9 TWh
Suriname 15.9 W 0.5% 0.0 TWh
Costa Rica 15.7 W 0.6% 0.1 TWh
Eritrea 14.4 W 11.4% 0.1 TWh
Guatemala 13.2 W 1.7% 0.2 TWh
Yemen 13.2 W 16.9% 0.5 TWh
Uzbekistan 12.6 W 0.6% 0.5 TWh
Solomon Islands 12.5 W 9.1% 0.0 TWh
Togo 11.8 W 5.4% 0.1 TWh
Fiji 10.8 W 0.9% 0.0 TWh
Angola 10.6 W 2.2% 0.4 TWh
Laos 10.4 W 0.2% 0.1 TWh
Kenya 9.9 W 4.0% 0.6 TWh
Iraq 8.4 W 0.2% 0.4 TWh
Iran 8.4 W 0.2% 0.8 TWh
Bangladesh 8.3 W 1.1% 1.4 TWh
Serbia 7.4 W 0.1% 0.1 TWh
Zambia 7.2 W 0.8% 0.1 TWh
Trinidad & Tobago 6.7 W 0.1% 0.0 TWh
Mali 6.3 W 3.3% 0.1 TWh
North Korea 5.7 W 0.6% 0.1 TWh
Syria 4.5 W 0.5% 0.1 TWh
Ghana 4.4 W 0.6% 0.1 TWh
Nicaragua 4.4 W 0.5% 0.0 TWh
Botswana 4.0 W 0.2% 0.0 TWh
Burkina Faso 3.9 W 2.7% 0.1 TWh
Somalia 3.8 W 16.7% 0.1 TWh
South Sudan 3.5 W 6.8% 0.0 TWh
Nepal 3.4 W 0.9% 0.1 TWh
Qatar 3.4 W 0.0% 0.0 TWh
Uganda 3.2 W 2.6% 0.1 TWh
Rwanda 2.9 W 3.7% 0.0 TWh
Sudan 2.8 W 0.8% 0.1 TWh
Madagascar 2.6 W 3.0% 0.1 TWh
Indonesia 2.5 W 0.2% 0.7 TWh
Myanmar (Burma) 2.4 W 0.5% 0.1 TWh
Sierra Leone 2.4 W 9.5% 0.0 TWh
Ecuador 2.2 W 0.1% 0.0 TWh
Afghanistan 2.2 W 1.3% 0.1 TWh
Benin 2.1 W 1.6% 0.0 TWh
Guinea 2.1 W 0.7% 0.0 TWh
Mozambique 2.1 W 0.4% 0.1 TWh
Zimbabwe 1.8 W 0.3% 0.0 TWh
Congo - Brazzaville 1.6 W 0.2% 0.0 TWh
Libya 1.4 W 0.0% 0.0 TWh
Papua New Guinea 1.0 W 0.2% 0.0 TWh
Turkmenistan 0.9 W 0.0% 0.0 TWh
Niger 0.8 W 1.0% 0.0 TWh
Cameroon 0.7 W 0.2% 0.0 TWh
Côte d’Ivoire 0.6 W 0.2% 0.0 TWh
Malawi 0.5 W 0.5% 0.0 TWh
Tanzania 0.5 W 0.3% 0.0 TWh
Nigeria 0.4 W 0.2% 0.1 TWh
Venezuela 0.4 W 0.0% 0.0 TWh
Ethiopia 0.3 W 0.2% 0.0 TWh
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