The latest Renewable Energy Statistics 2025 report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) based in the United Arab Emirates reveals a widening global divide in the renewable energy transition. While Asia added the lion’s share of new renewable energy capacity in 2024—an astounding 71%—regions such as Africa, Central America, and the Caribbean collectively contributed only 2.8% to global growth.

Africa, in particular, expanded its renewables capacity by just 7.2%, despite its vast untapped resources and pressing need for energy access.

This imbalance poses a serious challenge to the global goal of tripling renewable capacity by 2030, as agreed at COP28. If the current growth trajectory continues, the world will reach only 10.3 terawatts (TW) of installed renewables by 2030—falling 0.9 TW short of the 11.2 TW target. To stay on course, annual capacity must grow by at least 16.6% over the next five years.

Francesco La Camera, Director-General of IRENA, underscores the urgency of closing this investment and infrastructure gap. “The renewable energy boom is transforming global energy markets, driving economies and creating vast investment opportunities,” La Camera said. “However, the growing regional divide highlights that not everyone is benefiting equally from this transition.”

Indeed, countries that have succeeded in attracting renewable investment—particularly in Asia and parts of Europe—are now reaping broader economic rewards, including increased energy security, job creation, and industrial growth.

The 2024 data also highlights the overwhelming dominance of solar and wind energy, which accounted for 97.5% of all net renewables additions. Solar energy alone contributed 453 GW, reinforcing its position as the most cost-competitive and rapidly scalable clean energy source on the planet. Wind followed with 114 GW.

With renewables now representing 46.2% of global installed power capacity—nearly equal to fossil fuels at 47.3%—the economic and environmental case for continued investment is stronger than ever. Renewable electricity generation grew by 5.6% in 2023 compared to 2022, reaching 8,928 terawatt-hours, while non-renewable generation grew by only 1.2%.

Still, the benefits of this energy revolution are not evenly shared. As La Camera notes, “Bridging the divide and closing the investment gap between countries and regions is critical. It requires targeted policies, international financing, and partnerships that unlock capital and technology where they are needed most.”

UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell echoed this call to action: “To deliver on the global agreement at COP28 to triple renewables by 2030, we need to move much further and faster, and make more progress on the key enablers for vulnerable developing countries. The investments required will pay huge dividends—cutting emissions, driving economic growth, creating jobs, and supporting affordable, secure energy for all.”

The message is clear: the green energy future is well underway, but unless more inclusive policies and financing mechanisms are put in place, the clean energy divide could become the defining inequity of the 21st century.

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The Renewable Energy Statistics 2024 report released by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) based in the UAE shows that despite renewables becoming the fastest growing source of power, the world risks missing the tripling renewables target pledged at the UN conference COP28. 

To stay the course, the world will now have to grow renewables capacity at a minimum 16.4% rate annually through 2030. 

The unprecedented 14% increase of renewables capacity during 2023 established a 10% compound annual growth rate (2017 to 2023). Combined with the constant decreasing additions of non-renewable capacity over the years, the trend sees renewable energy on its way to overtake fossil fuels in global installed power capacity.  

However, if last year’s 14% increase rate continues, the tripling target of 11.2 Terawatts (TW) in 2030 outlined by IRENA’s 1.5°C scenario will fall 1.5 TW short, missing the target by 13.5%.

Furthermore, if the world keeps the historic annual growth rate of 10%, it will only accumulate 7.5 TW of renewables capacity by 2030, missing the target by almost one-third. 

“Renewable energy has been increasingly outperforming fossil fuels, but it is not the time to be complacent,” says IRENA Director-General, Francesco La Camera.

“Renewables must grow at higher speed and scale. Our new report sheds light on the direction of travel; if we continue with the current growth rate, we will only face failure in reaching the tripling renewables target agreed in the UAE Consensus at COP28, consequently risking the goals of the Paris Agreement and 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”

“As custodian agency tasked with monitoring the progress, IRENA is committed to support countries in their pathways to meet the target, but we need concrete policy actions and massive mobilisation of finance at full speed to reach our destination together. Consolidated global figures conceal ongoing patterns of concentration in geography. These patterns threaten to exacerbate the decarbonisation divide and pose a significant barrier to achieving the tripling target,” he added.  

COP28 President Dr Sultan Al Jaber said, “Today’s report is a wake-up call for the entire world: while we are making progress, we are off track to meet the global goal of tripling renewable energy capacity to 11.2 TW by 2030.

“We need to increase the pace and scale of development. That means increasing collaboration between governments, the private sector, multilateral organisations, and civil society. Governments need to set explicit renewable energy targets, look at actions like accelerating permitting and expanding grid connections, and implement smart policies that push industries to step up and incentivise the private sector to invest.

“Additionally, this moment provides a significant opportunity to add strong national energy targets in NDCs to support the global goal of keeping the 1.5°C target within reach. Above all, we must change the narrative that climate investment is a burden to it being an unprecedented opportunity for shared socio-economic development.” 

In terms of power generation, the latest data available for 2022 confirmed yet again the regional disparity in renewables deployment.

Who is leading renewable energy growth?

Asia holds its position as leader in the global renewable power generation with 3 749 Terawatt hours (TWh), followed for the first time by North America (1 493 TWh). The most impressive jump occurred in South America, where renewable power generation increased by nearly 12% to 940 TWh, due to a hydropower recovery and a greater role of solar energy.

With a modest growth of 3.5%, Africa increased its renewable power generation to 205 TWh in 2022, despite the continent’s tremendous potential and immense need for rapid, sustainable growth.

Acknowledging the urgent need for support and finance, IRENA is advancing the Accelerated Partnership for Renewables in Africa (APRA) initiative and is preparing an investment forum focused on APRA’s member countries later this year.

Read the full Renewable Energy Statistics 2024 including the highlights, here.

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The world’s renewable electricity capacity hit a record 473 GW in 2023, according to International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). And, no Turkey, nuclear energy is not renewable energy.

In their latest report China’s share in green power additions was a whopping 62.9%. The organization is based in the United Arab Emirates.

• Photovoltaics nominally took over from hydropower as the biggest renewables segment.
• Global solar power capacity surged 32.4% to 1.42 TW and had a 73% share in annual additions.
• Total wind power surpassed 1 TW last year.

The organization warned that many countries are cut off from the benefits of the energy transition. The Renewable Capacity Statistics 2024 report shows that 2023 set a new record in renewables deployment in the power sector by reaching a total capacity of 3.87 TW globally.

Renewables accounted for 86% of all capacity additions.

However, growth is unevenly distributed across the world and the goal to triple renewable power by 2030 is still out of reach.

The 13.9% renewables expansion rate (473 GW) is led by China. The country accounted for 62.9% of the entire increase, with its 298 GW. Its own expansion amounted to 25.7%, to 1.45 TW.

For comparison, global growth was 10% in 2022.

“Policy interventions and a global course correction are urgently needed to effectively overcome structural barriers and create local value in emerging market and developing economies, many of which are still left behind in this progress. The patterns of concentration in both geography and technology threaten to intensify the decarbonisation divide and pose a significant risk to achieving the tripling target,” said Director-General of IRENA Francesco La Camera.

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Ormat Technologies, a family energy business from Israel, has big plans for geothermal and recovered energy generation and the energy storage market

BHI, a full-service commercial bank, announced that it has entered into an agreement with Reno, Nevada-based Ormat Technologies (NYSE: ORA) to provide a new $75 million term loan for the company.

When I interviewed Ormat’s then CEO Yehudit ‘Dita’ Bronicki (in 2007), she told me that she started the company with her husband Lucien: “We started working in clean technology a long time ago – in 1965 well before anyone had ever heard of this market. We were never hippies, though. We were always square people with a clear vision that we wanted to do something in which Israel could excel.”

Today Ormat has realized its vision. It is one of the most important alternative and renewable energy companies in the world, especially in the areas of geothermal energy and energy recovery.

Fast forward: With over five decades of experience, and started in Israel, Ormat Technologies is a leading geothermal company and the only vertically integrated company engaged in geothermal and recovered energy generation (“REG”), with plans to accelerate long-term growth in the energy storage market and to establish a leading position in the US energy storage market.

Ormat has engineered, manufactured and constructed power plants, which it currently owns or has installed for utilities and developers worldwide, totaling approximately 3,200 MW of gross capacity. Ormat’s current total generating portfolio is 1,385 MW with a 1,215 MW geothermal and solar generation portfolio and a 170 MW energy storage portfolio.

Ormat will use the proceeds for general corporate purposes, including the acquisition of Italian power and gas giant, Enel Group for $271 million.  BHI will also continue its long-standing relationship with Ormat, serving as a depository bank while maintaining an active dialogue with the entire global management team as the company continues to pursue its strategic portfolio expansion and assess ways that their equipment can further optimize facility operations.

“Ormat’s highly experienced management team has positioned the company with a strong balance sheet and capital structure along with a geographically diverse plant portfolio, supported by long-term Power Purchase Agreements, which provide highly visible, secure cash flows,” said Uri Shusterman, First Vice President & Head of International C&I at BHI.

“We anticipate that this strategic foresight, coupled with favorable regulatory and policy tailwinds, will help further propel the company as it continues to pursue expansion plans and strategies to utilize their equipment to enhance the efficiencies and output of their growing portfolio of power plant assets.”

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Below are five broad areas that can be addressed when it comes to lowering the obstacles, which lead to the stimulation of renewable investment.

Transparent and regulated power arrangement. It is important to establish policies that are transparent and predictable because it is going to provide confidence to investors because they believe they are going to recover the investment they have made in power generation. Some examples of these policies include allowing independent power produces (IPP); having standardized and bankable power purchase agreement templates; having fair rate and transparent adjustment and public participation; holding transparent auctions. There was a recent transmission line auction in Brazil that didn’t attract investors after being launched in 2016 that is the perfect example. They revised the terms that included a tariff revision formula based on long-term interest rates and inflation, and higher maximum tariffs encouraged many investors to participate.

Clean energy or climate incentives. When there is an integrated and multi-year approach with short-term targets for reducing fossil fuel plants, and investing more in renewable energy, it makes it easier to come up with good policies. Establish carbon-pricing mechanisms like a carbon market, and also legislation to do with carbon removal is going to help a lot. A good example is Chile. They first started with passing a decommissioning schedule for coal power plants and then they engaged with the private power plant owners to come up with a schedule to phase out coal. They then had a tax on carbon for coal-powered plants.

Measures that are good for businesses. There are some policies that can help push investment in renewable energy that isn’t even specific to energy. Some of these include tax policy (this is where they don’t charge VAT on clean power sales or withholding taxes on profits), improved permitting processes, allowing foreign direct investment, and letting foreign investors repatriate profits.

Good financing mechanisms. It is important to have innovative financing mechanisms so that it mitigates risks, which offers higher return potential or create more opportunities to invest in. The masala bond is a good example of a finance mechanism that helps with risk mitigation. These are Indian Rupee-dominated bonds that allow foreign countries to invest in India. It mitigates the risk by providing a currency hedge. The project’s return and the cost of financing can be tied to the achievement of the decarbonization target. According to The European Smaller Companies Trust, European Bank of Reconstruction and Development invested €56 million in a bond offered by Tauron Polska Energia with the total bond being €233 million. The financing costs will end up going low if they meet the 2030 decarbonization objectives.

There are some financial innovations under consideration that will help in creating more renewable energy investment opportunities. Some examples include;

The synthetic corporate power purchase agreements (CPPAs) offer hedges against fluctuation in power costs for the buyer and also provide demand for renewable energy.

Energy transition mechanism that gives investors a chance of buying high-carbon emitting assets then retiring them and replacing them with renewable energy (the financial returns from this will come from the operation of high carbon and renewable-energy assets that is supplemented by things like carbon credit for faster retirement). The WEF has a task force that is working to come up with operational details on these innovations.

Early risk assumption. Many projects that have succeeded had an early investor who was ready to take the risks. Once the risks concerning the project had been ameliorated, the sponsor then found it easy to get more and less expensive capital for the project. A good example of such a project was the BTG Pactual transition project mentioned above. The company took the full equity risk at the start but managed to get debt financing once the project was done. The role can be supplemented or even fulfilled by international development organizations. InfraCo Asia is a good example of this approach where Asia GDP growth has been recorded. They were involved in a smart solar network in the Philippines where they only supported the first 4,000 homes although the project was targeting 200,000 homes for this clean energy project. They later managed to find another investor.

What is WEF doing to encourage clean energy?

The above five areas are associated with the government. It is important for governments in emerging economies to come up and enact legislation that is going to help in ameliorating some risks and improving returns on energy projects. Making Green loans available to encourage clean energy is a step that many governments have chosen. They need to request international financial institutions and multilateral development banks to raise their risk financing capacity and risk instrument offerings. The government needs to work with the private sector to come up with goals and parameters for investment opportunities in the renewable energy sector. They should be receptive to any financial innovations that can result in more private foreign capital flowing in to be used for clean energy projects. For governments in developed economies, they need to commit to mobilizing more funds for such projects and also provide technical advisory assistance.

Governments from both developing and developed economies should act fast because of the need to invest in low-carbon energy. The actions being taken in this decade are going to have a big impact on emissions for decades to come, or they can help fulfill SDG.

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Let’s keep this up post-corona and anything the world might throw at us. Renewables keep economies and communities resilient. A solar energy field in Israel called Ashalim.

The renewable energy sector added 176 gigawatts (GW) of generating capacity globally in 2019, marginally lower than the (revised) 179 GW added in 2018. However, new renewable power accounted for 72 per cent of all power expansion last year, according to new data released by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

IRENA’s annual Renewable Capacity Statistics 2020 shows that renewables expanded by 7.6 per cent last year with Asia dominating growth and accounting for 54 per cent of total additions. While expansion of renewables slowed last year, total renewable power growth outpaced fossil fuel growth by a factor of 2.6, continuing the dominance of renewables in power expansion first established in 2012. Solar and wind contributed 90 per cent of total renewable capacity added in 2019.

“Renewable energy is a cost-effective source of new power that insulates power markets and consumers from volatility, supports economic stability and stimulates sustainable growth,” said IRENA Director-General Francesco La Camera. “With renewable additions providing the majority of new capacity last year, it is clear that many countries and regions recognise the degree to which the energy transition can deliver positive outcomes.

2020 starts the decade of action

“While the trajectory is positive, more is required to put global energy on a path with sustainable development and climate mitigation – both of which offer significant economic benefits,” continued Mr. La Camera. “At this challenging time, we are reminded of the importance of building resilience into our economies. In what must be the decade of action, enabling policies are needed to increase investments and accelerate renewables adoption.”

Renewables accounted for at least 70 per cent of total capacity expansion in almost all regions in 2019, other than in Africa and the Middle East, where they represented 52 per cent and 26 per cent of net additions respectively. The additions took the renewable share of all global power capacity to 34.7 per cent, up from 33.3 per cent at the end of 2018.

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.

Solar added 98 GW in 2019, 60 percent of which was in Asia. Wind energy expanded by close to 60 GW led by growth in China (26 GW) and the United States (9 GW).

The two technologies now generate 623 GW and 586 GW respectively – close to half of global renewable capacity. Hydropower, bioenergy, geothermal and marine energy displayed modest year on year expansion of 12 GW, 6 GW, 700 MW and 500 MW respectively.

Asia was responsible for over half of new installations despite expanding at a slightly slower pace than in 2018. Growth in Europe and North America increased year on year. Africa added 2 GW of renewable capacity in 2019, half of the 4 GW it installed in 2018. A new organization called the Clean Gold Energy Alliance aims to make every new mine renewably powered by 2030. Green Prophet and the mining company Loncor – LN (TSE) in a JV with the world’s #2 gold company Barrick Gold TSE: ABX) is making that happen. More here on renewables needed in mining. And how renewables and the mining industry could save Africa.

Highlights by technology:

• Hydropower: Growth was unusually low in 2019, possibly because some large projects missed their expected completion dates. China and Brazil accounted for most of the expansion, each adding more than 4 GW. A good idea in some instances, but expanding operations could lead to the destruction of the Nile. Some consider hydro power to be an interim solution to renewable energy.
• Wind energy: Wind performed particularly well in 2019, expanding by nearly 60 GW. China and the United States continued to dominate with increases of 26 GW and 9 GW respectively.
• Solar energy: Asia continued to dominate global solar capacity expansion with a 56 GW increase, but this was lower than in 2018. Other major increases were in the United States, Australia, Spain, Ukraine and Germany.
• Bioenergy: Expansion of bioenergy capacity remained modest in 2019. China accounted for half of all new capacity (+3.3 GW). Germany, Italy, Japan and Turkey also saw expansion. This is also known as biogas. IT’s taking energy from organic sources like methane.
• Geothermal energy: Geothermal power capacity grew by 682 MW in 2019, slightly more than in 2018. Again, Turkey led with an expansion of 232 MW, followed by Indonesia (+185 MW) and Kenya (+160 MW). Companies like Ormat, lead the way.  Their shares are up on the stock market ORA (TLV). 
• Off-grid electricity: Off-grid capacity grew by 160 MW (+2%) to reach 8.6 GW in 2019. In 2019, off-grid solar PV increased by 112 MW and hydropower grew by 31 MW, compared to growth of only 17 MW for bioenergy.

Download the IRENA white paper report here.

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The Energy and Mines World Congress shows that 2019 will be considered the tipping point for solar and wind projects in the mining sector

The Energy and Mines World Congress that took place in Toronto provided great insights into the recent developments of onsite renewable energy applications at remote mines. Getting power lines to remote locations is hard, very hard. Trucking in fuel for polluting generators is the only other solution. Now the industry is understanding that renewable energy makes sense and cents.

This year 2019 is the tipping point. The business case for partly substituting expensive fuel like diesel, heavy fuel oil (HFO) or gas by solar and wind had been positive on paper for years. However, actual projects have evolved slowly. In 2019, almost a dozen new projects have been officially announced and at the same time many more projects are under development and on the verge of being announced.

Nick Holland, CEO of Gold Fields, a mining company that is a pioneer in integrating renewables, pointed out that costs savings are possible, and a cost-efficient decentralization of power generation enabled by renewables comes with further advantages: “Renewables make for great business – lower cost and supply security. Independence from the grid is critical – microgrids are the future!” he said.

Sustainability goes well beyond renewables

Mining companies see the need to decarbonize and pursue initiatives that go well beyond renewables, such as electrification of mining vehicles. These initiatives will further increase the electricity demand in mining and in the long run the need for locally generated renewable energy.

Trust in renewables has been building up over the years

Miners are gaining trust in renewable energy solutions. The fear of production losses has been decreasing over the past years with every new renewable energy system that has been added to a mine globally. Before, the general attitude was characterized by “wait and see”, but the mode has been changing in 2019 to “let’s act now”.

The individual decision makers today run a relatively low perceived risk by driving forward renewable energy projects. The solutions that are being built now are often more sophisticated than they were before, and they incorporate a higher share of renewables that is also enabled by storage solutions. Read more here about types of solar panels.

Australia and Africa are leading the way

The epicenters of these developments are Australia and Sub-Saharan Africa, two regions having substantial areas with insufficient public grids and typically excellent solar resources.

At the same time, renewable energy development also has a local driver. Though the mining sector is rather global, the word-of-mouth and political pressure on mining players to add renewables unleashes additional speed on a local level.

Shorter power purchase agreements (PPAs)

In comparison to the physical lifetime of solar and wind assets, the lifetime of mines or the mining licenses are often rather short. In addition, miners are used to relatively short-term energy supply for diesel, HFO (or heavy fuel oil) and gas.

Long-term purchase agreements for renewable energy often require a change of thinking and have slowed down the development of many projects in the past. More and more companies have come up with redeployable solar solutions that allow for offering short-term PPAs. On the hardware-side, the costs of redeployable solar solutions have come down significantly, but at the same time this approach is a bet on future growth of this segment. Redeployability also means that new target projects need to be available within a reasonable time period in the future. If not, the solar assets would have to be stored in warehouses until new deployment, which can prove to be costly.

Combining different renewable energy sources and energy storage

Several newly announced projects combine solar and wind power. One of the biggest disadvantages of solar and wind solutions is that they generate unsteady energy. Solar and wind output are often negatively correlated, which means that when solar irradiation is high wind speeds are typically low, and vice versa. This phenomenon allows for increasing the renewable energy share in the system while minimizing the need for storage.

In his presentation at the Energy and Mines World Congress, Thomas Hillig, Managing Director of the consulting firm THEnergy, said that for mining companies it makes sense to consider all sustainability levers and that also hydro could experience a real renaissance:

“In a research project that is supported by the German government with approximately USD 1 million, THEnergy is analyzing in collaboration with two universities, RWTH Aachen and TU München, the potential of hydro-electric solutions in the mining sector. We are still looking for mines in Peru to participate – free of any charge.”

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IRENA, the global renewable energy consortia with its headquarters in Abu Dhabi believes that though the clock of climate change is ticking, we still have time to avert global catastrophes.

Speeding up the adoption of renewable energy technologies is the most feasible route to reduce carbon emissions and avoid catastrophic climate change, says a new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency, also known as IRENA.

This first edition of this organization’s new report REthinking Energy draws on worldwide research and analysis by the intergovernmental agency and reviews progress in the world’s transition to a sustainable energy future–focuses on the global power sector and how technological advances, economic growth and climate change are transforming it.

“A convergence of social, economic and environmental forces are transforming the global energy system as we know it. But if we continue on the path we are currently on and fuel our growing economies with outmoded ways of thinking and acting, we we will not be able avoid the most serious impacts of climate change,” said Adnan Z. Amin, IRENA Director-General, at the launch of the publication in Abu Dhabi.

With global population projected to top 8 billion by 2030, electricity demand is expected to more than double as more people move into the middle class and consume greater quantities of energy. Historically, as energy consumption grows, so has carbon dioxide emissions. We already see the catastrophic effects of lack of power in cities like Cairo.

Yet burning of fossil fuels to generate electricity accounts for more than 40 percent of man-made carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions today.

“The good news is that renewable energy provides a viable and affordable solution to address climate change today,” Mr. Amin added. “And while the outlook for renewable power is bright, we need to rethink the mechanisms which have, up to this point, brought renewables into the mainstream and prepare for the next stage of this global transformation.”

However, demand is not only growing, the report details, it is fundamentally changing, as individuals, governments and businesses seek a cleaner, more diverse and more secure energy mix.

What energies to we need?

Increasingly, renewable energy is seen as a solution to this changing energy landscape. Renewable energy sources – including bioenergy, geothermal energy, hydropower, ocean, solar and wind energy – are up to 250 times less carbon-intensive than coal and up to 120-times less so than the cleanest fossil fuel, natural gas.

The report also highlights how new regulations and new investment tools are allowing a diverse collection of players – from families and farmers on the one hand, to non-energy corporate giants on the other – to enter the renewable energy space.

While the first edition of REthinking Energy focuses on power generation, it also points out that renewable energy use also needs to be increased for end uses like transportation, industrial and building heat (solutions like Qatar’s new Passivhaus).

Thinking about energy, obviously isn’t only about energy generation. It’s about energy savings and rethinking ways that we use our power, whether it’s for production of water, or food, or how we get around – by bike, by trail or magnetic pods hanging from the sky. Rethinking is a good start for imaging new ways of power generation in the Middle East and the world.

Download the report here (PDF web friendly)

Above images: Caption (from left to right): Chief Strategist and Renewable Energy Team Leader at King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (K.A.CARE), Mr. Ibrahim Babelli, IRENA Director-General, Adnan Z. Amin, Director of the Energy and Climate Change Department of the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and UAE permanent representative to IRENA, Dr. Thani Al Zeyoudi, Head of Regulatory Affairs for Enel Green Power, Mr. Felice Egidi

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Ormat Technologies, one of the world’s leading geothermal green energy power plant companies, has already tapped the earth’s geothermal energy sources in Europe,  the USA, Russia, Indonesia, Central and South America, and a 100 Megawatt plant in New Zealand.

The company’s geothermal energy expertise is becoming so accepted that its rising stocks are a boon for Israel’s Geothermal industry.

A new Ormat geothermal plant project, the Don A. Campbell Geothermal Power Plant, has just been completed in Mineral County Nevada in the USA. As reported by Market Watch, the plant is producing 16 Net Megawatts of electric power.

The project is receiving a full payment rate of $99 per megawatt hour with no annual escalation under the terms of a Power Purchase Agreement made with Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA). SCPPA is reselling this power to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), one of California’s largest consumer power entities.

Ormat already has several geothermal power plants operating in the western United States, with three operating in California itself. One of Ormat’s oldest completed geothermal plants is a 5.2 Mega Watt plant operating in Svartsengi Iceland, a location where geothermal power literally “spews out of the ground”.

Ormat’s largest geothermal plant to date is the 100 MW Ngatamariki geothermal power plant in New Zealand.

An even larger geothermal project is planned for the Indonesian island of Sumatra. When completed, it will provide around 330 Megawatts of electric power.

Read more on Ormat geothermal power plant projects:

World’s Biggest 100 MW Geothermal Plant Built by Israel’s Ormat in New Zealand

Ormat to Provide 330 Megawatts of Geothermal Energy in Sumatra Indonesia

Ormat Rising Stocks a Boon for Israel Geothermal

Photo of New Zealand geothermal power plant by Soliclima

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A consortium of Japanese architects got together to protest Zaha Hadid’s winning design for the main stadium of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and despite all her fame and glory, the Japanese government listened.

Zaha Hadid has been in the news a lot recently. For many, she is an incredible, visionary designer whose work is unparalleled, and her projects are appearing all over the world – including Qatar.

But a group of Japanese architects banded together to protest the enormous scope and size of the 80,000 seat stadium in Tokyo, which will host both the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the Games’ athletics, football and rugby events.

Fumihiko Maki, Toyo Ito, Sou Fujimoto and Kengo Kuma – all renowned for their own work – organized a meeting to convey how the stadium approved six months ago is poorly suited for the urban context in which it is slated to appear.

“We are NOT against Zaha,” said Fujimoto in a tweet. “We just think the basic requirement of the competition was too big for the surroundings.”

After listening to the Japanese consortium’s concerns about Hadid’s design, sports minister Hakubun Shimomura overruled the initial project approval – in part because the £1.8 billion construction budget is “too massive,” reports Dezeen.

“We need to rethink this to scale it down,” he said. “Urban planning must meet people’s needs.”

When they approved the project roughly six months ago, the design jury loved Hadid’s design. In addition to incorporating geothermal energy, recycled rainwater and grey water reuse, thereby upping the green ante in a first for the Iraqi architect, the stadium will serve multiple functions.

More than just a temporary stadium for the 2020 Olympics, the Tokyo National Olympic Stadium to be constructed in Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park will also host the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

But for now – thanks to a few outspoken Japanese designers who value their city, Hadid has been forced to revisit the drawing board to produce something that is a little less cumbersome for its already-dense setting.

:: Dezeen

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