Global electricity production down, but renewables increase – IEA

21 February 2023


The latest International Energy Agency ‘Monthly Electricity Statistics’ report shows that for the whole of the OECD membership, total net electricity production amounted to 851.3 TWh in November 2022, down by 1.8% y-o-y compared to the previous November.

But electricity production from renewable sources increased by 9.7% y-o-y at 295.3 TWh, mainly driven by solar (+41.3% y-o-y) and wind (+15.6% y-o-y), with hydro remaining stable (+0.3% y-o-y). Overall, the share of renewables in the OECD electricity mix settled at 34.7%.

Nuclear electricity production dropped by 9.0% y-o-y at 136.0 TWh, continuing the downward trend observed during previous months. This decrease was mainly driven by OECD Europe (-19.5% y-o-y), followed by the OECD Americas (-1.8% y-o-y) and OECD Asia Oceania (-1.4% y-o-y). Overall, the share of nuclear in the OECD electricity mix was 16.0%.

Electricity production from fossil fuels decreased by 6.0% at 417.5 TWh, mainly driven by natural gas (-6.1% y-o-y or 15.9 TWh), followed by coal (-5.9% y-o-y or 9.8 TWh). Production from natural gas declined both in OECD Europe (-21.1% y-o-y) and OECD Asia Oceania (-9.8% y-o-y), while the OECD Americas witnessed a small growth (+2.5% y-o-y). Coal power production decreased in all OECD regions, with the sharpest drop occurring in OECD Europe (-10.2% y-o-y). Overall, the share of combustible fuels in the OECD electricity mix was 52.1%.

A significant change occurred in Argentina, where electricity production from nuclear power amounted to only 34.6 GWh in November 2022, down by 96.8% or 1.1 TWh compared to the same month last year. Operations at the largest nuclear plant in the country, Atucha II, have been halted since October 2022 following a ‘technical incident’ necessitating repair works. The share of nuclear power in the country’s electricity mix, typically between 6% and 8% over the last two years, fell to only 0.3% in November 2022.


The IEA's Monthly Electricity Statistics features electricity production and trade data for all OECD Member Countries and electricity production data for a selection of other economies


Image: OECD electricity production by fuel type year to date comparison



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