Renewable energy

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Renewables now make up 30% of global electricity generation

Renewable energy, sourced from replenishable natural resources like sunlight, wind, and geothermal heat, is pivotal in electricity generation, heating, cooling, and transportation. It offers off-grid solutions for remote areas, produces minimal greenhouse gases, and enhances energy security due to its wide geographical distribution. As global efforts to mitigate climate change intensify, the shift to low-carbon energy, led by renewables, is accelerating. Technologies such as solar PV and wind are becoming cost-competitive with fossil fuels. Increasing the renewable share in energy systems involves electrifying heating and transport sectors, using biofuels, and deploying solar water heating, biomass burners, and geothermal heating. Achieving climate goals requires rapid renewable energy deployment across all sectors, supported by favourable policies and market conditions.

You can find further information below about the technologies, costs and current developments within each of the seven major types of renewables:

Learn more about renewables by reading our Energy Insights.

For the latest news and articles on renewable energy read New Energy World.

View our dedicated Collections on Hydrogen.

What's new?

China’s renewable energy expansion continues apace as overseas facilities bypass trade restrictions

13th August 2025

Xiaoyang Li, Director, China Power and Renewables Research at Wood Mackenzie comments: ‘Despite facing over 20 markets with trade barriers and extreme...

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Tide turns for floating wind as UK and EU approve major projects

13th August 2025

  White Cross Celtic Sea floating offshore wind project receives full consentThe 100 MW White Cross floating offshore wind farm in the Celti...

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Battery storage investments will switch off Shetland’s power station and scatter hundreds of community-scale batteries across the UK

13th August 2025

The Shetland BESS is to be delivered to UK grid-scale battery storage operator Zenobē. It will enable the diesel-fired Lerwick power station to ‘move ...

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Australia’s biggest battery ready to prevent NSW power outages

13th August 2025

At 850 MW/1,680 MWh, the Waratah battery will be the world’s most powerful in terms of power and energy storage capacity. It is located at the site o...

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Dutch wind project receives electrolyser to produce green hydrogen offshore

13th August 2025

The BLPH is designed to store surplus offshore wind energy from the Hollandse Kust Noord (HKN) wind farm operated by CrossWind, a joint venture betwee...

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Events and training

Level 3: Advanced Energy Manager

29th September 2025 - 3rd December 2025

This 9-day course is an advanced qualification aiming to support experienced energy managers to further advance their careers by gaining the skills an...

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Level 1: Certificate in Energy Management Essentials - October 2025

6th October 2025 - 10th October 2025

About: This introductory 5 day classroom course provides a comprehensive, practical overview of the fundamentals of energy management, equipping ...

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Maintenance Strategy Fundamentals - October 2025

17th October 2025 - 20th October 2025

In this 2 half-day training course on the 17 & 20 of October 2025, you will gain the fundamental knowledge and understanding to develop an efficie...

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Level 1: Certificate in Energy Management Essentials - November 2025

10th November 2025 - 14th November 2025

About: This introductory 5 day classroom course provides a comprehensive, practical overview of the fundamentals of energy management, equipping ...

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Using Reliability Centred Maintenance - November 2025

17th November 2025 - 21st November 2025

This 2 half-day virtual online training course on the 17 & 21 of October 2025, will allow you to optimise your asset maintenance plan with Reliabi...

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Technical guidance publications

EI 3596

SafetyOn Safe by Design workshop report: Review of the risks and control measures for current and ageing high voltage equipment (including boundary switches to low voltage equipment) in and around wind turbine generators

July 2025

This document has been produced to assist the onshore wind industry to reduce, and where practicable, eliminate the hazards associated with high-volta...

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EI 3590

SafetyOn 2024 Incident data report

June 2025

This report presents the analysis of health and safety incident data submitted by SafetyOn members and serves to highlight key risk areas that can inf...

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EI 3584

G+ Good practice guideline - Governance of mechanical lifting operations in the offshore wind industry

May 2025

This new G+ good practice guidance aims to share, advance and encourage good practice for the governance of lifting operations in the offshore wind in...

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EI 3586

SafetyOn Good practice guidelines: Welfare in the onshore wind industry

March 2025

The first edition of the SafetyOn GPG on welfare in the onshore wind industry is a resource for wind companies to adopt and implement within their own...

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EI 3462

Wind Turbine Safety Rules Procedure 5: Temporary application of an alternative safe systems of work

February 2025

The Wind Turbine Safety Rules (WTSRs) are a model set of Safety Rules and procedures to help formalise a Safe System of Work (SSoW) to manage the sign...

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Statistical Review of World Energy

The Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy™ analyses data on world energy markets from the prior year.