Methodology

IEA World Energy Balances, 2017 and United Nations Statistics Division data serve as the underlying data used to calculate the indicator.

The indicator used in this report to track RE within an energy system is the share of RE in TFEC and is expressed as a percentage (%REN_TFEC).

This share is calculated as the ratio of final energy consumption of renewables after allocation (AFEC_REN) to TFEC, calculated from the flows in the energy balances.

The denominator (TFEC) is calculated as the sum of total final consumption minus non-energy use for all energy sources, or equally, the sum of the energy consumed in the industry, transport, and other sectors. The numerator (AFEC_REN), on the other hand, is not a direct summation of the underlying raw data but a series of calculations reflecting the fact that monitoring occurs at the final energy level. At this level in the energy balance, electricity and heating are secondary energy obtained by different primary energy sources, of which some are renewable. Assumptions need to be made in order to fully account for the renewable component of such secondary sources. It was decided to allocate the final consumption of electricity and heating to renewables based on the share of renewables in gross production.