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5 August 2013 - The global use of solar and wind energy grew significantly in 2012. Solar power consumption increased by 58% to 93 terrawatt-hours (TWh), and the use of wind power increased by 18% to 521 TWh. Although hydropower remains the world's leading renewable energy, solar and wind continue to dominate investment in new renewable capacity and are quickly becoming the highest-profile renewable energy sources says the Worldwatch Institute in a recent report.
 
Global solar & wind energy capacities continued to grow even though new investments in these energy sources declined during 2012. Global investment in solar energy in 2012 was US$140.4 billion, an 11% decline from 2011, and wind investment was down 10%, to US$80.3 billion. But due to lower costs for both technologies, total installed capacities grew sharply.

Solar photovoltaic (PV) installed capacity grew by 41% in 2012, reaching 100 GW. Over the past five years alone, installed PV capacity grew by 900% from 10 GW in 2007. The countries with the most installed PV capacity today are Germany (32.4 GW), Italy (16.4 GW), the United States (7.2 GW), and China (7.0 GW).
 
Europe remains dominant in solar, accounting for 76% of global solar power use in 2012. Germany alone accounted for 30% of the world's solar power consumption, and Italy added the third most capacity of any country in 2012 (3.4 GW). Spain added the most concentrating solar thermal power capacity (950 MW) in 2012 as well. However, Italy reached the subsidy cap for its feed-in tariff (FIT) program in June 2013 while Spain recently made a retroactive change in its FIT policies, meaning growth in solar energy will likely slow in these countries in the near future. More is available.