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Solar energy capacity

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About this data

Solar energy capacity
Measured in gigawatts.
Source
International Renewable Energy Agency (2023) – processed by Our World in Data
Last updated
December 12, 2023
Next expected update
December 2024
Date range
2000–2022
Unit
gigawatts

Related research and writing

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Renewable Energy

Hannah Ritchie, Max Roser and Pablo Rosado

Explore charts that include this data

Solar energy generation vs. capacity

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

IRENA publishes detailed statistics on renewable energy capacity, power generation and renewable energy balances. This data is collected directly from members using the IRENA Renewable Energy Statistics questionnaire and is also supplemented by desk research where official statistics are not available.

Some technologies include others, following this schema:

Total renewable energy

  1. Hydropower 1.1 Renewable hydropower 1.2 Pumped storage *
  2. Marine
  3. Wind 3.1 Onshore wind energy 3.2 Offshore wind energy
  4. Solar 4.1 Solar photovoltaic 4.2 Concentrated solar power
  5. Bioenergy 5.1 Solid biofuels 5.1.1 Bagasse 5.1.2 Renewable municipal waste 5.1.3 Other solid biofuels 5.2 Liquid biofuels 5.3 Biogas
  6. Geothermal
  • Pumped storage is included under the "Hydropower" category but not in the "Total renewable energy". Generation from mixed plants is split between hydropower and pumped storage as appropriate.
Retrieved on
December 12, 2023
Retrieved from
https://www.irena.org/Data/Downloads/IRENASTAT
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
IRENA (2023), Renewable power generation costs in 2022, International Renewable Energy Agency, Abu Dhabi.

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Citations

How to cite this page

To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Solar energy capacity”, part of the following publication: Hannah Ritchie, Pablo Rosado and Max Roser (2023) - “Energy”. Data adapted from International Renewable Energy Agency. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/installed-solar-pv-capacity [online resource]
How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

International Renewable Energy Agency (2023) – processed by Our World in Data

Full citation

International Renewable Energy Agency (2023) – processed by Our World in Data. “Solar energy capacity” [dataset]. International Renewable Energy Agency, “Renewable Electricity Capacity and Generation Statistics” [original data]. Retrieved October 30, 2024 from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/installed-solar-pv-capacity