The latest International Energy Agency ‘Monthly Electricity Statistics’ report, which includes October 2023 data, shows that total net electricity production by OECD members was 848.0 TWh in October 2023, up by 2.6% compared to October 2022.
Renewable sources continued the increasing trend of 2023, showing a 7.0% growth year-on-year, driven by gains in generation from wind (+11.5%) and solar (+15.8% y-o-y) power. Wind power showed a sharp increase relative to the previous month (41.1% m-o-m), slightly ahead of the seasonal trend, especially in OECD Europe and the OECD Americas. An increase in solar power was visible across all regions, but in OECD Asia Oceania it achieved its highest share of the electricity mix, contributing 11.6% to the total net electricity generation.
Electricity from fossil fuel sources decreased by 2.8% compared to October 2022, with markedly lower coal power production (-8.4% y-o-y). Production from gas fired power stations remained stable in October 2023 (+0.2% y-o-y), despite a large increase in the OECD Americas (+9.9% y-o-y).
Electricity generation from nuclear energy rose by 10.2% year-on-year in October 2023, driven by large increases in France (+39.7% y-o-y), Japan (+70.6% y-o-y), the United States (+4.2%) and Canada (+28.7% y-o-y).
Notably, the increase in New Zealand’s electricity production from wind power amounted to 408.7 GWh in October 2023, up by an extraordinary 34.8% compared to the same month last year.
For the second month in a row, wind power set new-record highs by providing more than 11% of the country’s total net electricity production, representing a remarkable increase in the share of wind generation.
This was the direct result of several new capacity additions over the second half of 2023. With additional wind farms planned to be connected to the grid in the upcoming months, this upward trend is expected to continue.
Image: OECD electricity production by fuel type year-to-date comparison (Source: IEA)
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