Middle East's new power capacity dominated by fossil fuels as renewables lag

Dubai — The Middle East showed the smallest share of renewables in new power projects last year, as fossil fuels still dominated expansions in the region, the International Renewable Energy Agency said Monday.

Renewables accounted for 26% of total power capacity expansion last year in the Middle East, while almost all other regions showed at least a 70% share, IRENA said in a report.

Non-renewable capacity expansion globally followed long-term trends in 2019, with net growth in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and net decommissioning in Europe and North America.

Total Middle East production capacity rose 13% to 22,710 MW, with Iran dominating both years at 57% of the Middle East total in 2019 and 63% in 2018.

The 13% jump for the total Middle East expansion in renewables was the fastest in the world, except for Oceania at 18% growth.

Saudi Arabia's renewable energy capacity expanded by the most on record last year, to 397 MW from 87 MW in 2018, while the UAE's jumped to 1,885 MW from 596 MW, the data showed.

Kuwait's capacity expanded to 106 MW from 55 GW, while Iraq's was unchanged at 2,311 MW and Qatar stayed at 43 MW. Israel climbed to 1,500 MW from 1,138 MW.

In solar capacity, the UAE has the most in the Middle East at 1,883 MW compared with 594 MW in 2018, while in wind capacity Jordan has the most at 374 MW compared with 285 MW in 2018.

Total wind capacity in the Middle East climbed to 723 MW from 614 MW.