The global renewable energy generation capacity increased by 167 gigawatts (GW) to reach 2,179 GW by the end of 2017, representing an average annual growth of 8.3 percent for seven consecutive years, a report said Thursday. The Abu Dhabi-based International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) said in an e-mailed statement that solar photovoltaics (PV) grew by 32 percent in 2017, followed by wind energy, which grew by 10 percent. IRENA said its newly published report entitled “Renewable Capacity Statistics 2018” is the most comprehensive, up-to-date and accessible figures on renewable energy capacity statistics, as it contains nearly 15,000 data points from more than 200 countries and territories. The increase in renewable energy generation capacity was partly due to the substantial cost reductions, with the cost of electricity from solar PV decreasing by 73 percent, and onshore wind by nearly one-quarter, between 2010 and 2017. Both […]