The International Energy Agency’s May report shows that for OECD members total net electricity production amounted to 854.4 TWh in May 2024, up by 3.7% compared to the same month last year.
This overall increase was led by strong generation from renewable sources (+6.6% y-o-y), mainly driven by solar power, which surged by 19.7% y-o-y and, to a lesser extent, by wind power (+5.8% y-o-y). Hydropower generation remained at 2023 levels (-0.2% y-o-y), as lower production in the OECD Americas (-11.6% y-o-y) and in OECD Asia-Oceania (-9.3% y-o-y) was compensated by a significant recovery in OECD Europe (+16.8% y-o-y). The share of renewable sources in the OECD electricity mix settled at 39.4%, one percentage point higher than in May 2023.
Electricity production from fossil sources grew marginally by 0.5% on a year-on-year level, mainly because reduced electricity generation from fossil fuels in OECD Europe (-11.4% y-o-y) and Asia-Oceania (-5.5% y-o-y) was offset by a significant increase in the Americas (+6.6% y-o-y). In this region, the jump in fossil-fuel based electricity production mostly resulted from increased reliance on natural gas-fired plants (+6.9% y-o-y). Overall, fossil fuels provided 43.4% of total electricity generation in May 2024, down by 1.4 percentage points compared to the same month last year.
Electricity production from nuclear power increased by 5.5% y-o-y, with positive variations being registered in all OECD regions. In particular, nuclear power generation grew by 14.1% in OECD Asia-Oceania, by 5.5% y-o-y in OECD Europe and by 3.1% in the OECD Americas. The share of nuclear power in the OECD electricity mix remained stable at 16.7%.
In OECD Europe, total net electricity production reached 266.4 TWh in May, a notable 3.0% increase compared to May 2023. A decline in electricity production from combustible fuels (-11.4% y-o-y), was offset by significant growth in electricity production from renewable sources (+9.6% y-o-y) and nuclear (+5.5% y-o-y). The rise in renewables was mainly driven by increase in solar electricity production (+18.3% y-o-y) and hydro (+16.8% y-o-y). Solar generation reached a record-high share of 14.9% in the electricity mix, while hydroelectric power recovered from drought conditions that had significantly reduced output in the previous year.
