Top 15 Renewables Countries
There are about fifteen countries that got more than 30% of all their 2021 primary energy needs from renewables (https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-energy-stacked). I chose this year as it is most complete regarding allocation for most countries by source. What do they mostly have in common?
Lots of water.
Take country #1. Iceland is blessed with renewable resources: Reykjavik gets 35 inches of rain per year, and it sits on the Mid-Oceanic Ridge - ideal for geothermal. Also, its population (~400,000) is tiny, with only modest requirements to scale energy sources. This is typical for most of the top 15 with exceptions in Denmark and Portugal, small countries in the world’s most windy corridor of the Atlantic and North Sea. The only populous country in the list is Brazil, which has the Amazon River and modest per capita energy use.
Because of these resources, this list is not representative for the rest of the world. Most countries do not have what they do.
Countries missing from this list, despite huge investments, show the challenges of scaling wind and solar. That’s why you do not see Germany (18% renewables) and China (15% renewables) on the list.
When you hear of countries that are going renewable for most of their needs, think about their unique blessings.
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