CONSULTING

consecutive year, making up about 77 percent of all renewable power capacity added in 2015. 342
BP figures indicate an increase in 2015 over the previous year of 63 GW in wind power and 50 GW
of solar, 343 compared to a 6.5 GW increase for nuclear power.
Figure 34 illustrates the extent to which renewables have been deployed at scale since the new
millennium, an increase in capacity of 417 GW for wind and of 229 GW for solar, compared to the
stagnation of nuclear power capacity, which over this period increased by only 27 GW, including
all reactors in LTO. Taking into account the fact that 35 GW of nuclear power are currently in LTO
and not operating, the balance turns negative and 8 GW nuclear less are in operation than in 2000.
Electricity Generation
The characteristics of electricity generating technologies vary and different amounts of electricity
are produced per installed unit of capacity. In general, over the year, nuclear power plants tend to
produce more electricity per MW of installed capacity than renewables.
Figure 35: Global Electricity Production from Wind, Solar and Nuclear 1997-2015
TWh
1000
Variations in Global Electricity Production Compared to Reference-Year 1997
from Wind, Solar and Nuclear
(in TWh)
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
© Mycle Schneider Consulting
Wind
Nuclear
Solar
289
397
294
366
330
514
632
704
829
252
200
100
0
1
51
241
121
5
266
33
20
101
147
178
Sources: BP, MSC, 2016
342 REN 21, “Renewables 2016 Global Status Report”, Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st
Century, June 2016.
343 BP, “Statistical Review of World Energy”, June 2016.
Mycle Schneider, Antony Froggatt et al. 108 World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2016