Key points:
- The Renewables Bulletin is a data product providing timely and ready-to-use data on countries’ progress in developing renewables to produce sustainable, zero-carbon energy, one region at a time.
- Access to accurate data and an indication of what we can learn from it supports our collective efforts to hold governments accountable for setting – and delivering – ambitious targets.
- This dataset includes country-level and comparative data on the state of the energy transition in BRICS nations.
- Countries covered are Brazil, China, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.
Data you’ll find in this piece:
- Fig. 1: Global vs BRICS total electricity generation, 2024 (TWh)
- Fig. 2: Global vs BRICS renewable electricity generation, 2024 (TWh)
- Fig. 3: Wind and solar electricity generation, 2024 (TWh)
- Fig. 4: Electricity generation by fuel source in the BRICS, 2024 (TWh)
- Fig. 5: Electricity generation by fuel source in BRICS countries, 2015-2024 (TWh)
- Fig. 6: Renewables capacity in Brazil, China and India 2015-2023 (GW)
- Fig. 7: Renewables capacity in other BRICS countries 2015-2023 (GW)
- Fig. 8: Renewables and Solar & Wind capacity per capita in BRICS countries, 2023 (kW)
- Fig. 9: Capacity (GW) vs generation (TWh) in BRICS countries, 2023
- Fig. 10: BRICS renewables generation, 2015-2023 (TWh)
- Fig. 11: BRICS solar generation, 2015-2024 (TWh)
- Fig. 12: BRICS wind generation, 2015-2024 (TWh)
- Fig. 13: BRICS solar & wind generation by country, 2015-2024 (TWh)
- Fig. 14: Jobs in the renewable energy sector (thousands)
- Fig. 15: Renewable energy jobs per thousand people, 2023
BRICS are crucial to the energy transition
Composed of some of the world’s fastest-growing economies, the BRICS bloc has expanded from an initial group of four to 11 members. As their economies expand, so does BRICS countries’ demand for energy, meaning that they will play a vital and growing role in the energy transition, particularly the global drive to triple renewables capacity by 2030.
How do the BRICS compare with the rest of the world?
BRICS countries make up a globally significant proportion of electricity generation. In 2024 they generated some 15,909 terrawatt hours (TWh), just over half of the world’s electricity, and more than double the electricity generated in the EU (2744 TWh) and US (4387 TWh) combined.
Fig. 1: Global vs BRICS total electricity generation, 2024 (TWh)
BRICS share of renewables is slightly lower than its share of overall electricity generation, coming in at just over 49% of total renewable electricity in 2024, dominated by China, which produced nearly 70% of this.
China alone (3388 TWh) accounted for more renewable electricity generation than the US (1057 TWh) and EU (1302 TWh) combined, while total BRICS renewable electricity generation was more than double that produced in the US and EU.
The renewable electricity produced in India (407 TWh) and Brazil (653 TWh) combined equalled that produced in the US.
Fig. 2: Global vs BRICS renewable electricity generation, 2024 (TWh)
BRICS countries perform less well when considering wind and solar generation in a global context, accounting for 37% of the total. Although China produced more electricity from wind and solar than the US and EU combined (1825 TWh compared to 1539 TWh), other BRICS countries only produced a combined total of 474 TWh, just over 30% of that produced in the US and EU.
Fig. 3: Wind and solar electricity generation, 2024 (TWh)
BRICS electricity market
The data presented here covers the 10 current members of BRICS – Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. Together, this group of nations spans a wide profile of energy mixes and economic structures, ranging from fossil fuel-dependent economies to those with significant renewable energy (RE) infrastructure.
Fig. 4: Electricity generation by fuel source in the BRICS, 2024 (TWh)
The graph above provides a snapshot of the BRICS power landscape, highlighting the outsized impact of China and the continued dependence on fossil fuels in most markets. Looking at each country’s generation growth in the years since the signing of the Paris Agreement, gives a clearer indication of how the energy transition is progressing at a national level.
Fig. 5: Electricity generation by fuel source in BRICS countries, 2015-2024 (TWh)
Comparing renewables in the BRICS
Capacity
Renewables capacity has expanded in all three of the largest BRICS countries since 2015, particularly from solar PV.
Solar capacity in China grew from 43 GW in 2015 to 610 GW in 2023, an increase of over 1300%. While solar PV in Brazil only provides around 38 GW of installed capacity, this is a huge increase from the 0.05 GW of installed capacity in 2015. India’s installed solar capacity has nearly quadrupled from 18 GW in 2015 to nearly 73 GW in 2023.
Fig. 6: Renewables capacity in Brazil, China and India 2015-2023 (GW)
Renewables capacity has grown in all eight countries, although from a low base and not at the scale seen in India and China. In some countries (Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran) growth has been very slight.
Progress on wind and solar has stalled in South Africa and Russia after early expansion in wind and solar between 2015 and 2020.
Fig. 7: Renewables capacity in other BRICS countries 2015-2023 (GW)
Per capita comparisons
Considering the amount of installed capacity per person in the BRICS countries is a way of comparing them independently of the country’s size or the size of its economy.
While China continues to outperform the other BRICS countries, Brazil has almost the same level of renewables capacity because of the size of its hydroelectric sector. However, Brazil’s wind and solar capacity per capita is less than half of that in China.
The small population of the UAE means that it performs comparatively well with other countries for per capita capacity and is second only to China for wind and solar capacity per capita. Conversely, the large population of India means that it compares poorly with other BRICS countries for overall renewables and also for wind and solar capacity per capita
Fig. 8: Renewables and Solar & Wind capacity per capita in BRICS countries, 2023 (kW)
Targeting generation growth is more impactful than capacity
While the global goal to triple renewable energy by 2030 focuses on capacity – the maximum electricity a plant can produce under ideal conditions – it is geƒneration that makes the real difference. Generation represents the actual electricity produced and consumed, affecting energy supply and greenhouse gas emissions. Increasing capacity is vital, but efficiency and consistency in generation are key to real progress. Below, we’ve put capacity and generation side-by-side to show how actual use compares with infrastructure availability. This data is from 2023, which is the latest available across all 11 countries.
Fig. 9: Capacity (GW) vs generation (TWh) in BRICS countries, 2023
Generation
Hydropower made up 45% of total renewable electricity generation in the BRICS countries in 2023. This compares with nearly 82% of renewable generation coming from hydropower in 2015.
While growth in hydro generation has largely stagnated since 2015, other technologies have been growing rapidly as a source of electricity. Generation from solar PV grew from 49 TWh in 2015 to 792 TWh in 2023, an increase of over 1500% in less than a decade. Over the same time period, wind generation grew from 245 TWh to 1089 TWh, an increase of over 340%
Fig. 10: BRICS renewables generation, 2015-2023 (TWh)
Solar
The rapid growth of solar PV has been led by China, where generation rose from 39 TWh in 2015 to over 580 TWh in 2023, and over 830 TWh in 2024.
Other countries have also experienced rapid growth, with India increasing solar PV generation from 6 TWh in 2015 to over 113 TWh in 2023 and over 130 TWh in 2024. Solar PV generation in Brazil increased from 0.06 TWh in 2015 to more than 51 TWh in 2023 and 74 TWh in 2024.
However, some BRICS countries have not experienced the scale of increase of solar PV generation seen in China, Brazil and India. Generation in Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Russia and Saudi Arabia was less than 6 TWh in each country in 2023 while generation in South Africa and the United Arab Emirates was below 20 TWh.
Fig. 11: BRICS solar generation, 2015-2024 (TWh)
Wind
Growth in China’s wind generation has also been impressive, increasing from 185 TWh in 2015 to 885 TWh in 2023 and 991 TWh in 2024.
Wind generation has increased steadily in Brazil, growing from 21 TWh in 2015 to 95 TWh in 2023 and 107 TWh in 2024.
However, other BRICS countries have seen very slow growth. In Ethiopia wind generation has actually declined from 0.76 TWh in 2015 to 0.56 in 2023. Growth has stagnated since 2020 in all the remaining BRICS countries.
Fig. 12: BRICS wind generation, 2015-2024 (TWh)
The graph below shows the progression of solar and wind generation for each country, to show a more granular view of progress in each nation.
Fig. 13: BRICS solar & wind generation by country, 2015-2024 (TWh)
Renewable energy and jobs
Employment in renewable energy is growing rapidly as countries expand their use. This growth is dominated by solar PV, which increased by 13% to more than 4.5 million people in 2023, and by wind power, where global employment grew by 8% in 2023 compared to 2022 to nearly 1.7 million, according to IEA data.
In China, jobs in the solar PV sector make up over 60% of the country’s total RE employment, above the global average of 40% of all RE jobs worldwide. Total RE jobs in China exceed the RE jobs in the other BRICS countries combined
Fig. 14: Jobs in the renewable energy sector (thousands)
While China has the highest number of RE jobs, Brazil leads the BRICS countries for RE jobs as a proportion of the population. This is a reflection of the high level of hydro power generation, which is relatively labour-intensive, and is also shown in the comparatively high employment rate in Indonesia.
Fig. 15: Renewable energy jobs per thousand people, 2023
