Skip to content
Key facts: The leaders of the renewable energy revolution
- Countries including Norway already rely almost entirely on hydropower
- Denmark is leading the transition to a power system dominated by wind and solar
- Lithuania is also rapidly moving toward variable renewables
- Other countries, including Portugal, are close behind
At least 14 countries are on track to get more than half of their electricity from wind and solar by 2030, as the meteoric rise of these technologies puts 100% renewable power within reach for an ever-larger share of the world, according to the International Energy Agency.
The context: A handful of nations have already reached — or come close to — the 100% renewables mark, including Norway, New Zealand, Iceland, Costa Rica, Kenya, Bhutan, and Paraguay. However, they relied on traditional technologies — including hydro and first-generation geothermal power plants — and most countries don’t have access to these resources in abundance.
Some others, including France, get most of their electricity from low-carbon nuclear power.
The latest: The IEA’s latest renewable energy stocktake focuses partly on the countries that are leading the shift to variable renewable energy technologies — primarily wind and solar, which are now the cheapest sources of generating capacity in most of the world.
Denmark is the current frontrunner, with wind and solar accounting for 74% of the nation’s power output in the first nine months of 2025, according to data collated by climate and energy research group Ember. Bioenergy, a more polluting renewable energy technology, comprised another 10% of the mix.
However, the IEA sees Lithuania overtaking Denmark by the end of the decade, with wind and solar projected to reach 80% of the nation’s power generation mix, and all renewables climbing to a 93% share.
Other European countries — Portugal, Greece, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, the UK, and Ireland — are also leading the transition to variable renewables. Portugal, for example, will get to 94% renewable power by 2030, per the IEA.
Elsewhere, Chile will get to 93% renewables by the decade’s end, with solar alone making up 40% of the mix. The country has relied heavily on wind and solar amid a rapid coal phase-out.
The IEA sees renewables generating 43% of the world’s electricity by 2030, up from 32% in 2024.
- This article was updated on 4 November 2025.
One Response
Funny to see Canada so low.
Yes, there is not much solar and wind energy
BUT
There is a lot of hydroelectric power used, to the extend that in Canadian day-to-day language they don’t pay the bills for “electricity”, they pay the “hydro” bill