Monthly electricity statistics

OECD

In the OECD, total net electricity production amounted to 979.5 TWh in August 2023, up by 0.8% compared to the same month last year.

Electricity production from fossil fuels totaled 530.8 TWh in August 2023, down by 2.5% or 13.4 TWh compared to August 2022. This decrease was mainly driven by a sharp decline in electricity output from coal (-11.2% y-o-y1), while natural gas experienced a moderate increase (+2.5% y-o-y). Overall, the share of fossil fuels in the OECD electricity mix settled at 54.2%, 1.8% lower than in August 2022.

Total electricity production from renewable sources grew by 5.6% y-o-y, with wind power leading this trend (+19.5% y-o-y), followed by solar power (+17.3% y-o-y). These two renewable technologies offset reduced output from hydropower (-3.6% y-o-y). Renewables accounted for 30.2% of total OECD electricity production, higher than one percentage point compared to August 2022.

Nuclear electricity production amounted to 149.9 TWh in August 2023, marking a 3.8% y-o-y increase with higher generation being observed in all OECD regions. The share of nuclear power in the OECD electricity mix settled at 15.3%, 0.4% higher compared to August 2022.

OECD Americas

In the OECD Americas, total net electricity production was 534.7 TWh in August 2023, registering a modest increase (+2.4% y-o-y) compared to the same month last year. This increase was driven by higher output from fossil fuel sources (+4.0% y-o-y) The electricity output from renewable sources decreased by 1.1% year-on -year driven by hydro (-15.6% y-o-y) On the other hand, solar and wind power production saw an increase of 25.9% and 15.5% year-on-year respectively.

Total electricity generation in Canada was 46.7 TWh in August 2023, falling by 13.1% year-over-year. The reduction in hydroelectricity generation was particularly significant, dropping by 19.9% to 25.8 TWh, marking the lowest level since September 2021. This decline was attributed to abnormal dry conditions and drought, adversely affecting hydroelectric generation across the nation. This decrease could not be offset by considerable increases in both solar and wind power. Specifically, solar electricity generation surged by 75.4% y-o-y to 1.1 TWh, while wind power increased by 11.0% y-o-y, reaching 2.2 TWh.

In Chile, total production was 7.8 TWh in August 2023, up by 6.4% compared to last year. Renewable power production, which accounts for 70.5% of the total net electricity production, reported a 22.8% y-o-y increase. This growth was primarily driven by a 34.4% y-o-y spike in hydroelectric production, reaching 3.0 TWh. Solar power also contributed to this uptrend, with a 14.0% y-o-y increase and reaching 1.2 TWh in the electricity mix. In fossil fuel electricity generation, coal production (1.2 TWh) experienced the most significant decline on year-over-year basis, dropping by 21.6%, while natural gas (1.1TWh) followed suit with a 16.3% decrease during the same period.

OECD Asia Oceania

In OECD Asia Oceania, total net electricity production was 175.7 TWh in August 2023, an increase of 1.3% on a year-on-year basis. Out of this production 64.0% originated from fossil fuels, 21.9% from renewable sources and 13.1% from nuclear power.

In Australia, electricity production from fossil fuels decreased by 5.5% y-o-y in August 2023, driven by lower coal-fired generation (-4.6% y-o-y). Renewable energy generation saw a slight increase (+1.5% y-o-y), with increasing generation from solar energy (+23.6% y-o-y) and hydropower (+9.5% y-o-y) balancing the decrease in wind generation (-21.8% y-o-y).

In Korea, gas fired generation increased by 10.3% in August 2023 compared to the same period in the previous year, showing a positive trend for the first time this year. The country has favoured renewable energy sources instead of fossil fuel sources this year (+11.6% vs.-5.5% y-t-d2, respectively). 

OECD Europe

In OECD Europe, total net electricity amounted to 269.2 TWh in August 2023, down by 2.4% compared to the same month last year. Electricity production from fossil fuels decreased by 22.4% y-o-y, driven by coal (-29.0% y-o-y) and natural gas (-18.9% y-o-y). On the other hand, production from renewable sources and nuclear power witnessed an increase of 14.7% y-o-y and 5.3% y-o-y respectively. Overall, on a year-to-date basis, OECD Europe’s total net electricity decreased by 4.7%.

In the Slovak Republic, total net electricity amounted to 2.4 TWh in August 2023, up by 20.2% y-o-y or 0.4 TWh compared to August 2022. Such growth was mainly driven by an increase in electricity production from nuclear (+15.7% y-o-y or 0.2 TWh), following the connection to the grid of a new reactor unit at the Mochovce nuclear facility in January 2023. In the course of 2023, the unit has been operating at a progressively higher power, nearing its full capacity. Electricity generation from renewable sources and fossil fuels respectively increased by 28.1% y-o-y and 31.7% y-o-y.

In Italy, total net electricity amounted to 22.7 TWh in August 2023, down by 3.5% y-o-y compared to same month last year. The decline observed in the electricity generated from fossil fuels (-20.5% y-o-y) was not compensated by the increased generation from renewable sources (+23.2% y-o-y). Hydro witnessed the major growth (+47.1% y-o-y or 1.3 TWh), followed by wind power (+43.8% y-o-y or 0.5 TWh) and solar power (+19.8% y-o-y or 0.6 TWh). In the electricity mix, solar power reached a record-high share of 16.2%. 

Other non-OECD economies

In India, total net electricity production reached new record-high levels at 167.8 TWh in August 2023, up by 17.9% or 25.5 TWh compared to the same month last year, as the country experienced extremely hot weather conditions. With increasing penetration of cooling appliances, India’s power system is indeed becoming more and more sensitive to high temperatures. The additional electricity generation was provided mostly by fossil fuels (+20.0% y-o-y), with remarkable contributions also from renewable technologies such as wind (+47.5% y-o-y) and solar (+36.8% y-o-y).

In Bulgaria, electricity production from solar amounted to 442.9 GWh in August 2023, increasing more than twofold (+103.9% y-o-y) compared to August 2022 and reaching a record-high share of 15.0% in the country’s electricity mix. Since the beginning of 2023, solar power production in Bulgaria has been significantly higher than in 2022, mainly because of significant new capacity additions. This trend is expected to continue, as additional solar plants are planned to come into operation over the next months.