Monthly Electricity Statistics

In the OECD Americas, total net electricity production amounted to 471.5 TWh in December 2022, up by 5.4 % compared to the same month last year. Over the course of the year, total electricity production increased by 2.3% y-t-d or 125.7 TWh compared to 2021. Electricity generation from renewable increased by 7.8% y-t-d reaching 137.3 TWh, mainly due to higher production from wind (46.1 TWh), up by 14.5% y-t-d and solar (11.8 TWh), up by 20.5% y-t-d.

Total electricity generation in the United States rose to 369.6 TWh in December 2022, up 6.9% compared to same month previous year. due to an increase in heating demands as temperature dropped. Electricity production from natural gas which fuelled 37.5% of the total electricity of the country in December 2022, went up by 10.7% compared to December 2021. Overall, in 2022 growing generation from renewable sources (+10.0% y-t-d) in particular, wind (+16.0% y-t-d) and solar (+23.6% y-t-d) sources compensated for an 7.7% drop in coal-fired electricity generation.

In Chile, Electricity generation decreased by 2.1% y-o-y to 7.5 TWh in December 2022. Overall, net electricity production amounted to 84.1 TWh in 2022, down by 1.7% compared to 2021. Hydroelectric generation continued to see significant year-to-date increases, up by 32.0% to 23.0 TWh. Solar (+26.8% y-t-d) and Wind (+27.1% y-t-d) also contributed to the increase in the output generated from renewable sources taking the total share up to 55.8% in 2022. Conversely, electricity generation from combustible fuels dropped to 2.6 TWh in December 2022, down by 24.6% on a year-to-date basis, driven by a 25,4% y-t-d decrease in coal production amounted to 1.1 TWh.

In OECD Asia Oceania, total net electricity production was 161.1 TWh in December 2022, and a total of 1 817.2 TWh in the entire 2022. While total net electricity production decreased by 4.1% in December 2022 compared the same month in 2021, production in 2022 was 2.0% higher than in 2021 (year-to-date). The lower production in December 2022 was led by a decrease in production from fossil fuels (-4.3% y-o-y) and nuclear (-7.7% y-o-y). When looking at the full year, electricity production from renewable sources (+8.4% y-t-d) drove the total electricity growth, with a large increase of electricity from solar power (+13.6% y-t-d).

In Japan, nuclear power production saw a decrease both on year-on-year (-7.1%) and year-to-date (-15.4%) basis. The country has been increasing its reliance on nuclear power in recent years, reversing the decisions that followed the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011. However, the restart of the existing nuclear power plants has been slow for a variety of reasons, including the need for several safety assessments, refurbishment and maintenance actions, and a few reactors nearing the end-of-life mark.

In OECD Europe, total net electricity amounted to 307.0 TWh in December 2022, down by 6.2% y-o-y compared to December 2021. Decrease in electricity production was registered from all sources, except solar (+14.5% y-o-y). In particular, production from nuclear (-10.0% y-o-y) and natural gas (-8.0% y-o-y) witnessed the largest drop, while production from renewables declined by 4.2% y-o-y. In the course of 2022, production from wind (+11.6% y-t-d) and solar (+25.1% y-t-d) significantly increased compared to 2021, as opposed to hydro (-10.3% y-t-d) and nuclear (-15.2% y-t-d), while production from fossil fuels remained relatively stable (+0.6% y-t-d). 

In Germany, total net electricity amounted to 47.4 TWh in December 2022, down by 8.8% y-o-y compared to same month last year. This drop was mainly driven by electricity production from nuclear, which declined by 51.7% y-o-y or 2.9 TWh, followed by renewables (-4.4% y-o-y or 0.9 TWh) and fossil fuels (-2.8% y-o-y or 0.7 TWh). In the course of 2022, total net electricity slightly declined by 1.8% y-t-d compared to 2021. Production from nuclear decreased by 49.9% y-t-d due to the nuclear phaseout the country started at the beginning of the year. This drop was partially mitigated by coal (+8.2% y-t-d), solar (+18.8% y-t-d) and wind (+8.9% y-t-d).

In Italy, total net electricity amounted to 22.7 TWh in December 2022, down by 10.6% y-o-y compared to same month last year. Production from fossil fuels decreased by 5.0% y-o-y and production from renewables dropped by 20.8% y-o-y, driven by wind (-39.0% y-o-y) and hydro (-21.5% y-o-y). In this context, the share of natural gas in the electricity mix reached a record-high of 58.0%. In the course of 2022, production from fossil fuels increased by 9.8% y-t-d, with natural gas being the main contributor (+12.1% y-t-d), while production from renewables decreased by 12.2% y-t-d, driven by hydro (-36.2% y-t-d). 

In India, electricity production from solar power amounted to 8.0 TWh in December 2022, up by 66.0% compared to the same month last year. Over the course of 2022, electricity production from solar totalled 92.2 TWh, 36.9% or 24.8 TWh higher than in 2021. This was the direct result of significant capacity additions in the country throughout the year, as approximately 14 GW of additional solar power were connected to the grid.

In Brazil, electricity production from hydropower settled at 37.7 TWh in December 2022, increasing by 17.1% or 5.5 TWh compared to December 2021. After suffering from a severe drought in the second half of 2021, Brazil’s hydropower electricity generation went back to normal levels in 2022. Indeed, in the entire 2022, the country’s hydropower plants produced 423.0 TWh of electricity, 24.0% or 81.9 TWh more compared to 2021. This allowed Brazil to reduce its reliance on thermal plants over the year, with electricity production from combustible fuels decreasing by 51.7% on a year-to-date basis.