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Seven countries now generate nearly all their electricity from renewables (2024)

the-independent.com

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Re: Seven countries now generate nearly all their electricity from renewables (2024)

#71

Post by ZeroGravitas »

tootie wrote: post #53
phtrivier wrote: post #27

> Albania, Bhutan, Nepal, Paraguay, Iceland, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo produced more than 99.7 per cent of the electricity they consumed using geothermal, hydro, solar or wind power. Let's head to electricitymaps.com ! Albania ( https://app.electricitymaps.com/map/zone/AL/live/fifteen_min... ) - On 2026-04-12 16:45 GMT+2, 22,67% of electricity consumed by Albania is imported from Greece, which gen…

I think they missed Uruguay which is a similar case. They have also traditionally benefitted from a hydro able to cover 80-90% most of their needs but they made a concerted effort to fill the entire remaining gap with wind and solar.

Recent video by someone from Puerto Rico comparing their island's renewables with Uruguay and interviewing the guy in charge of their renewables rollout:

https://youtu.be/TsmlyqZJOug

Re: Seven countries now generate nearly all their electricity from renewables (2024)

#73

Post by ZeroGravitas »

ptman wrote: post #69
neves wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And it means that it has been oil free since the 70's. Brazil, a continental country, has more than 80% of its energy from renewables

Oil free for electricity generation. The media in my country (Finland) also likes to brag about 90+% fossil-free electricity generation. But electricity is under half (30%?40%?) and the rest of that energy isn't fossil-free.

Finland has electricified 40% of primary energy which is pretty much world leading (Sweden and Norway are 50%). European average is 19%.

Largest chunk left is transport which can mostly be electrified now. Industrial and home heat too. There are hard to electrify sections in both but overall it's fairly obvious what to do next.

And the easy parts eliminate 3 or 4 units of primary energy for every one they replace, so even 40% primary energy is way over 50% toward the finish line of electrifying all the useful stuff.

I think it's also an interesting question as to whether countries that use a lot of electricity have lower per kWh prices because they spread the fixed costs further.

Re: Seven countries now generate nearly all their electricity from renewables (2024)

#74

Post by analog31 »

Y-bar wrote: post #13
darkwater wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why geothermal is not renewable? Earth is not going to cool its magma soon enough

Can’t speak for large scale sites with abundant volcanic activity… But for residential geothermal the bore hole has a lifetime based on how much ground water there is and how active usage it sees. This is because using it cools the hole slowly and after a few decades (depending on how quickly ground water can dissipate heat gradient) a new hole need to be drilled a distance away.

Can we cycle the holes? Use one while the other one is warming back up.

Re: Seven countries now generate nearly all their electricity from renewables (2024)

#75

Post by ambicapter »

direwolf20 wrote: post #46
input_sh wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess somewhat of a fun fact: Albania has rented(!) two floating(!) oil-powered power plants near the city of Vlöre that are there in case of emergency. The last time they were really needed was in 2022 (if I remember correctly), but these days they're not turned on any more than they need to be to make sure they're operating properly. That very expensive backup system is basically the only non-renewable source in…

And this is an expected problem with renewables that can be engineered around. It's unlikely the whole world has a drought at once during a calm night, so developing ways to transmit power long distances will be important.

Or just use nuclear as base load, and battery storage as much as you can.

Re: Seven countries now generate nearly all their electricity from renewables (2024)

#77

Post by adev_ »

darkwater wrote: post #7
Mordisquitos wrote: post #5

Specifically Albania, Bhutan, Nepal, Paraguay, Iceland, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Not to downplay the positive steps that are being taken towards using renewable energy worldwide, but one must point out that all those countries except one are almost exclusively using hydroelectric power, whose availability at such scale is a geographical lottery. As for Iceland, which also relies mostly on hydroe…

Why geothermal is not renewable? Earth is not going to cool its magma soon enough

Contrary to a popular belief, most high temperature Geothermal plants have a predicted death date.

This is due to the physics reality of the ground itself: Power of a Geothermal well will decay over time to a point where the well become unusable and need to be closed.

It is due to the fact underground water is rich in minerals and raw elements. This soup will slowly but surely cement the well itself and its associated underground.

There are techniques (similar to 'fraking') to extend the lifetime of a well but only to some extent.

If the topic interests you (and you can bear artificially translated English), a French content creator did a pretty good video on the topic:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q4xZArgOIWc

Additionally, Geothermal plants can emit CO2 (even a lot of CO2) in some geological configuration.

All of that makes Geothermal (for electricity) a bit controversial as "Renewable".

I precise that there is absolutely nothing wrong about low temperature Geothermal energy for residential heating and we should do more.

Re: Seven countries now generate nearly all their electricity from renewables (2024)

#78

Post by mono442 »

ffsm8 wrote: post #66
justsomehnguy wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For some it's an eye-opening experience when they compare the states which are the most vocal about going solar and have a look onto the solar map of the world. Or then they talk about how some countries have miraculous levels of an energy independence and social services and then look at their total population.

Tbf, solar has gotten so much more effective/cost efficient in the last 12-24 months that it's beating pretty much everything aside from hydro in the cost efficiency department at this point - including (most of) northern Europe and Canada. Most data you find will be using data that's massively out of date and be off by at least 2x though... I had another facepalm moment when I read about EU planning to go nuclear ag…

Can batteries store enough energy for dunkelflaute in winter? I don't think it's possible with the current technology.

Re: Seven countries now generate nearly all their electricity from renewables (2024)

#79

Post by ZeroGravitas »

jacquesm wrote: post #31
phtrivier wrote: post #27

> Albania, Bhutan, Nepal, Paraguay, Iceland, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo produced more than 99.7 per cent of the electricity they consumed using geothermal, hydro, solar or wind power. Let's head to electricitymaps.com ! Albania ( https://app.electricitymaps.com/map/zone/AL/live/fifteen_min... ) - On 2026-04-12 16:45 GMT+2, 22,67% of electricity consumed by Albania is imported from Greece, which gen…

And have either a small population or a very low per-person energy budget. But: 7 isn't the number that matters, what matters is that next year it will be 8 or 9. That would be worth documenting.

With modern tech, these 100% renewable electricity countries have effectively overshot. Many other countries would be better off getting to 85% and then shifting to focusing more on EV and heat pump uptake to get the best bang per buck.

Re: Seven countries now generate nearly all their electricity from renewables (2024)

#80

Post by Shitty-kitty »

input_sh wrote: post #41
phtrivier wrote: post #27

> Albania, Bhutan, Nepal, Paraguay, Iceland, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo produced more than 99.7 per cent of the electricity they consumed using geothermal, hydro, solar or wind power. Let's head to electricitymaps.com ! Albania ( https://app.electricitymaps.com/map/zone/AL/live/fifteen_min... ) - On 2026-04-12 16:45 GMT+2, 22,67% of electricity consumed by Albania is imported from Greece, which gen…

I guess somewhat of a fun fact: Albania has rented(!) two floating(!) oil-powered power plants near the city of Vlöre that are there in case of emergency. The last time they were really needed was in 2022 (if I remember correctly), but these days they're not turned on any more than they need to be to make sure they're operating properly. That very expensive backup system is basically the only non-renewable source in…

Funny, TAP runs straight-thru Albania. They could just build a gas power station. Of course rented rigs line the pockets much better.
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