Solar and wind energy were previously preferred by richer countries, but the trend has taken a new turn according to the market researcher.

Solar power soared last year to become the world's leading new power generation source, fueling clean energy technologies, including wind and hydroelectric, to overtake coal in global installed capacity, according to the latest calculations by research consultancy BloombergNEF (BNEF). 109 more solar energy equipment have import tax zeroed by the Government.

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With a record 118 GW of commissioned capacity, solar photovoltaics (PV) was the top new source of power generation technology in 2019, accounting for 45% of the world's newly installed capacity, says BloombergNEF (BNEF).

Last year, solar PV was the global leader in terms of newly built capacity and the most popular technology deployed by 33% of nations, while the share of fossil fuels dropped to 25%.

The adoption is mainly due to the sharp drop in the costs of solar equipment, such as photovoltaic modules, which have made the technology widely available for homes, businesses and networks, explained Luiza Demoro, BNEF analyst and lead author of the BNEF study that covers data from 138 countries.

The world's cumulative installed solar capacity at the end of 2019 reached 651 GW, compared to just 43,7 GW in 2010, surpassing the total wind capacity of 644 GW. Coal remains, however, at the top of the rankings with 2.089 GW of global energy production capacity, followed by gas with 1.812 GW and hydropower with 1.160 GW. During the past year, 81 countries brought live at least 1MW of solar power, BNEF said, predicting that the market will continue its expansion and add 140GW-178GW of new capacity in 2022.

In terms of energy production, solar power accounted for 2,7% of the world's total electricity generation in 2019, up from 0,16% a decade ago.

While the average utilization rate at coal-fired power plants dropped to 50% last year, coal capacity increased by 32% over the decade and reached 2,1 TW at the end of 2019, which in turn increased production by 17% over 2010 levels. Net additions in 2019 were 39 GW.

“Wealthier countries are moving quickly to older, inefficient coal plants because they cannot compete with new gas or renewable energy projects,” said Ethan Zindler, head of the Americas at BNEF. He added that coal-fired generation is still preferred by less developed nations, particularly in South and Southeast Asia.

The analysis of BNEF shows that last year wind and solar were, for the first time, responsible for the majority of new energy capacity deployments worldwide, with 265 GW installed.

The two sources of power generation were previously preferred by richer countries, but the trend has taken a new turn, according to the market researcher. Their data shows that the majority of new capacity built each year since 2011 was in a group of almost all OECD nations, while in a group of non-OECD nations plus Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Turkey, wind and solar energy have contributed the most installations each year since 2016.