Birol praised governments’ efforts to install these technologies more quickly. Approximately two-thirds of the increased power capacity will come from photovoltaic energy, with a significant surge in large-scale solar farms and consumer rooftop installations.

Both solar and wind energies are presently leading the rapid expansion of the new global energy economy, so the world is poised to add a new record amount of renewables to power systems this year, Birol stated.

The two energies could add 440 gigawatts of installed capacity by 2023, one-third more than in 2022 and bringing global installed capacity to 4,500 gigawatts, roughly the energy output of the United States and China. Birol warned, however, that there is a pressing need to upgrade and expand power grids, taking into account the intermittent nature of solar and wind powers, which require a fundamentally different approach by grid operators compared to existing coal and gas-based or nuclear plants.

Experts have pointed out that the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels requires halving greenhouse emissions by 2030 and to net zero by mid-century.

The International Renewable Energy Agency has called for an increased investment in solar and wind powers. It has been an international call for renewable energy development that will be assessed at the UN Climate Conference (COP 28), scheduled for November 30 to December 12 in Dubai.

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