- Name
- Installed renewable energy-generating capacity in developing countries (in watts per capita)
- Indicator purpose
- The focus of this indicator on electricity reflects the emphasis in the target on modern sources of energy and is particularly relevant for developing countries where the demand for electricity is often high and its availability is constrained. Furthermore, the focus on renewables reflects the fact that the technologies used to produce renewable electricity are generally modern and sustainable, particularly in the fastest growing sub-sectors of electricity generation from wind and solar energy.
- Abstract
- The indicator is defined as the installed capacity of power plants that generate electricity from renewable energy sources divided by the total population of a country. Capacity is defined as the net maximum electrical capacity installed at the year-end and renewable energy sources are as defined in the IRENA Statute.
- Unit of measure
- in watts per capita
- Other characteristics
- The division of renewable electricity capacity by population (to produce a measure of Watts per capita) is proposed to scale the capacity data to account for the large variation in needs between countries. It uses a population rather than GDP to scale the data because this is the most basic indicator of the demand for modern and sustainable energy services in a country.
- Classification used
- Electricity capacity is defined in the International Recommendations for Energy Statistics or IRES (UN, 2018) as the maximum active power that can be supplied continuously (i.e., throughout a prolonged period in a day with the whole plant running) at the point of the outlet (i.e., after taking the power supplies for the station auxiliaries and allowing for the losses in those transformers considered integral to the station). This assumes no restriction of interconnection to the network. It does not include overload capacity that can only be sustained for a short period of time (e.g., internal combustion engines momentarily running above their rated capacity).
The IRENA Statute defines renewable energy to include energy from the following sources: hydropower; marine energy (ocean, tidal and wave energy); wind energy; solar energy (photovoltaic and thermal energy); bioenergy; and geothermal energy.
- Disaggregation
- is by technology (solar, hydro, wind, etc.) and by on-grid and off-grid capacity.
- Key statistical concepts
- Renewable electricity generating capacity at the end of the year is divided by the total population of the country in that year.
- Recommended uses
- N/A
- Other comments
- As reflected in many national policies, plans, and targets, increasing the production of electricity and, in particular, renewable electricity, is seen by many countries as a priority in their transition to the delivery of more modern and sustainable energy services. Thus, this indicator is a useful first step towards measuring overall progress on this target that reflects country priorities and can be used until other additional or better indicators can be developed.
All the metadata shown in this document was gathered from United Nation Statistics Division. The metadata was extracted from https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/.
- Target 2030
- 12.a. Support developing countries to strengthen their scientific and technological capacity to move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption and production
