The latest International Energy Agency 'Monthly Electricity Statistics' report including April 2022 data shows that for total OECD membership net electricity production was 821.7 TWh in April, up by 1.3% on a year-on-year basis.
Renewable electricity production reached 309.2 TWh, up by 9.8% year-on-year. The increase was largely driven by higher wind and solar power production, +24.7% and +15.0% y-o-y respectively. Hydropower production, which continued to represent the highest share (+14.8%) of the electricity mix among renewable sources, increased slightly at 121.2 TWh (+1.2% y-o-y).
Fossil fuels provided 49.5% of the electricity production (406.3 TWh) in the OECD countries. Reliance on natural gas (217.9 TWh) and coal (145.2 TWh) was still high, corresponding to a 26.5% and 17.7% share in the electricity mix respectively. However, both were slightly lower, as was the nuclear contribution. Electricity production from natural gas decreased by 4.2% in April 2022 compared to April last year. Similarly, nuclear power output amounted to 129.2 TWh in April 2022, down by 7.0% y-o-y.
The standout figures came from the USA, where electricity production from wind jumped to 46.1 TWh in April 2022 (+28.7% y-o-y), with wind power reaching a record high share of 14.8% in the electricity mix. Solar power also gained significant momentum and increased by 23.6% at 17.8 TWh, corresponding to a 5.7% share in the electricity mix, an all-time high for the country. This reflects the general trend observed over the last years in the United States, where generation from renewables has been steadily increasing as a result of new capacity additions.
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. The latest dataset may be downloaded from the IEA website.
