GLOBAL renewable electricity generation will increase 40 percent in the six years through 2017, led by new wind and hydro plants in China, the International Energy Agency said in a report yesterday.

Power from renewables will rise to almost 6,400 terawatt-hours in 2017 from 4,540 terawatt-hours in 2011, the IEA said. That's five times the needs of all US households. China will install 270 gigawatts of new wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, bioenergy and marine power capacity, almost two-fifths of the 710-gigawatt global total.

While the economic crisis and subsidy cuts are hurting the deployment of the technologies in traditional European markets, renewables are increasingly competitive with fossil fuels.

"Renewable electricity generation is expected to continue its rapid expansion," IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven wrote in the foreword of the report. "It's striking that emerging and developing markets are driving much of the expected growth, with their contribution to accelerate."

The 5.8 percent annual rise in renewable energy generation for the period through 2017 outstrips the 5 percent yearly gain in the six years ended in 2011, the IEA said.

Source:shanghaidaily.com