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Renewables surged in 2020, IEA reports

The International Energy Agency’s latest Renewable Energy Market update finds that renewable capacity additions in 2020 reached almost 280GW, up 45% from the 190GW in 2019 and the largest year-on-year increase since 1999.

This was comprised primarily of solar and wind, with around 135GW and 115GW of capacity respectively, along with 20GW of hydro and about 10GW of other renewables, led by bioenergy.

Policy deadlines in China, the United States and Vietnam were behind this boom, according to the IEA report. China alone was responsible for over 80% of the increase as onshore wind and solar PV projects contracted under the former feed-in tariff scheme and those awarded in previous auctions had to be connected to the grid by the end of 2020.

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