According to the data of new energy finance and Economics (bnef), in 2016, the installed capacity of global electric power was 6719 GW, of which coal accounted for 30%, followed by natural gas power generation (24%), hydropower (17%), onshore wind power (7%), fuel oil (6%), photovoltaic (5%) and nuclear power (5%). It can be seen that fossil energy power generation capacity accounted for 60% in 2016.

Bnef predicts that in 2040, the installed capacity of global electric power will reach 13919 GW, and the installed capacity will reach 32% (22% of public utility photovoltaic power stations and 10% of small photovoltaic systems), followed by onshore wind power (14%), natural gas power generation (14%), coal power (13%), hydropower (12%) and nuclear power (2%).

In this way, by 2040, the installed PV capacity of wind power will reach 46%, but due to the low capacity factor (annual generation hours), bnef estimates that wind power photovoltaic power generation will account for 34%.

However, the forecasts of other agencies are much lower than those of bnef. For example, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), wind photovoltaic accounts for about 16% of total power generation in 2040, and only 2.9% of primary energy consumption.