In December 2024, total OECD net electricity generation was 945.5 TWh, an increase of 3.1% compared to December 2023. Of this total, 449.8 TWh (47.6%) was produced from fossil fuels, 325.8 TWh (34.5%) from renewable sources and 165.8 TWh (17.5%) from nuclear power. In 2024, total net electricity generation in the OECD amounted to 10 832.9 TWh, reflecting an increase of 2.5% compared to 2023. As in the previous year, 2024 also displayed a gradual shift from fossil fuels (-0.9% year-to-date) towards renewables (+7.1% y-t-d) and nuclear power (+2.7% y-t-d).
Electricity generation from fossil fuels increased by 2.8% year-on-year in December 2024. Electricity generation from oil dropped by 7.9% y-o-y (-0.9 TWh), while generation from natural gas and coal increased by 3.8% y-o-y (+10.0 TWh) and 2.1% y-o-y (+3.3 TWh) respectively. The shares of natural gas, coal and oil in the electricity mix respectively stood for 28.8%, 17.2% and 1.1%. The increase in electricity generation from natural gas was driven by OECD Europe (26.1% y-o-y, +12.4 TWh), while output decreased in the OECD Americas (-0.5% y-o-y, -0.9 TWh) and in OECD Asia Oceania (-3.5% y-o-y, -1.6 TWh).
Generation from renewable sources increased by 2.8% year-on-year (9.0 TWh) in the OECD in December 2024. The highest absolute increase came from solar generation (+26.4% y-o-y, +9.5 TWh), bringing total solar generation to 45.5 TWh (4.8% of total generation). The first region driving this trend was the OECD Americas, where solar generation increased by 37.4% y-o-y (+5.6 TWh) to 20.6 TWh, driven mainly by the USA (+4.8 TWh y-o-y). In OECD Europe, a notable increase was seen in Spain and Italy, with solar electricity generation increasing respectively by 0.7 TWh y-o-y and 0.5 TWh y-o-y.
Solar power generation in Australia increased by 26.7% y-o-y (+1.4 TWh), while hydropower in the OECD decreased by 2.1% y-o-y (-2.6 TWh) to 126.1 TWh, accounting for 13.3% of total generation. OECD Europe witnessed a decline in hydropower, with a -15.4% y-o-y (-9.2 TWh) decrease. Wind generation in the OECD increased by 1.2% y-o-y to 121.2 TWh (12.8% of total generation).
Nuclear power generation increased by 4.3% year-on-year (6.8 TWh) in the OECD in December 2024. OECD Europe registered the highest growth (+5.5% y-o-y or 3.3 TWh), with nuclear power generation in France increasing significantly by 16.2% y-o-y (+5.1 TWh). Nuclear power production in the OECD Americas and OECD Asia Oceania registered lower increases of 3.6% y-o-y (+2.8TWh) and 3.4% y-o-y (+0.7TWh) respectively.
New Zealand, which commissioned an additional hydropower plant in Tauhara, benefited from year-to-date electricity generation from geothermal that showed a remarkable rise to 8931.6 GWh in December 2024, an increase of 15.6% (+1204.3 GWh) compared to 2023. December also marked the record-high share of geothermal in the country’s electricity mix, accounting for 23.1% of the total.
