Renewable energy

Join the EI» Manage your membership»
Join the EI» Manage your membership»

Renewables now make up 30% of global electricity generation

Renewable energy, sourced from replenishable natural resources like sunlight, wind, and geothermal heat, is pivotal in electricity generation, heating, cooling, and transportation. It offers off-grid solutions for remote areas, produces minimal greenhouse gases, and enhances energy security due to its wide geographical distribution. As global efforts to mitigate climate change intensify, the shift to low-carbon energy, led by renewables, is accelerating. Technologies such as solar PV and wind are becoming cost-competitive with fossil fuels. Increasing the renewable share in energy systems involves electrifying heating and transport sectors, using biofuels, and deploying solar water heating, biomass burners, and geothermal heating. Achieving climate goals requires rapid renewable energy deployment across all sectors, supported by favourable policies and market conditions.

You can find further information below about the technologies, costs and current developments within each of the seven major types of renewables:

Learn more about renewables by reading our Energy Insights.

For the latest news and articles on renewable energy read New Energy World.

View our dedicated Collections on Hydrogen.

What's new?

Power plant transformations provide a boost to the energy transition in Taiwan and the UK

16th July 2025

The first of three new gas-fired combined cycle blocks at Taiwan Power Company Nan Bu Construction Organization (TPC NPCO)’s Hsinta power plant in Kao...

Read more »

US DoE report warning that blackouts could increase by 100 times in 2030 gets mixed reactions

16th July 2025

On 7 July 2025, the US Department of Energy released a controversial Resource Adequacy Report, in response to an Executive Order by President Donald T...

Read more »

China launches first floating offshore PV project

16th July 2025

The 7.5 MW facility was developed with support from Shandong Province and the municipality of Qingdao. Built in a fully seawater environment, the proj...

Read more »

UK government rules out move to zonal pricing for electricity market

16th July 2025

While zonal pricing would have split Great Britain into multiple regions to reflect local generation and transmission costs, concerns from renewable o...

Read more »

Masdar-Iberdrola offshore wind partnership powers ahead after German project completion with €5.2bn UK investment

16th July 2025

The companies have announced they will co-invest in the 1.4 GW East Anglia THREE wind farm, located off the Suffolk coast in the UK, in what they clai...

Read more »

Events and training

Level 3: Advanced Energy Manager

29th September 2025 - 3rd December 2025

This 9-day course is an advanced qualification aiming to support experienced energy managers to further advance their careers by gaining the skills an...

Read more »

Level 1: Certificate in Energy Management Essentials - October 2025

6th October 2025 - 10th October 2025

About:This introductory 5 day classroom course provides a comprehensive, practical overview of the fundamentals of energy management, equipping p...

Read more »

Maintenance Strategy Fundamentals - October 2025

17th October 2025 - 20th October 2025

In this 2 half-day training course on the 17 & 20 of October 2025, you will gain the fundamental knowledge and understanding to develop an efficie...

Read more »

Technical guidance publications

EI 3590

SafetyOn 2024 Incident data report

June 2025

This report presents the analysis of health and safety incident data submitted by SafetyOn members and serves to highlight key risk areas that can inf...

Read more »

EI 3584

G+ Good practice guideline - Governance of mechanical lifting operations in the offshore wind industry

May 2025

This new G+ good practice guidance aims to share, advance and encourage good practice for the governance of lifting operations in the offshore wind in...

Read more »

EI 3586

SafetyOn Good practice guidelines: Welfare in the onshore wind industry

March 2025

The first edition of the SafetyOn GPG on welfare in the onshore wind industry is a resource for wind companies to adopt and implement within their own...

Read more »

EI 3462

Wind Turbine Safety Rules Procedure 5: Temporary application of an alternative safe systems of work

February 2025

The Wind Turbine Safety Rules (WTSRs) are a model set of Safety Rules and procedures to help formalise a Safe System of Work (SSoW) to manage the sign...

Read more »

EI 3582

SafetyOn and G+ workshops report: Electrical safe system of work

February 2025

SafetyOn and G+ have been working collaboratively with the EI to enhance safety protocols in the onshore and offshore wind industry through the Safe S...

Read more »

You may also be interested in

Statistical Review of World Energy

The Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy™ analyses data on world energy markets from the prior year.