Countries with the most bioenergy 2026: world ranking and Chile's place

Updated on 15 November 2026. China is the country with the most bioenergy in the world: it had 33,100 MW of plants generating electricity from biomass, waste and biogas at the end of 2025, 21% of world capacity, according to the statistics of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). It is followed by Brazil, with 18,373 MW, and India, with 11,384 MW. Chile ranks 29th, with 765 MW.

Worldwide there were 155,364 MW of bioenergy at the end of 2025, 63% more than in 2015, and those plants generated 660 TWh in 2024, more than seven times all of Chile's electricity. Even so, bioenergy supplies only about 2% of the planet's electricity, according to Ember. This data sheet brings together the ranking of countries with the most bioenergy, who generates the most, what each country's bioenergy is made of, where Latin America stands and how it has grown since 2015.

The table ranks countries by installed bioenergy capacity for power generation at the end of 2025, the sum of IRENA's four categories: solid biofuels, renewable waste, biogas and liquid biofuels. The last column shows the electricity they generated in 2024, the latest full year.

Source: IRENA (2026), Renewable Energy Statistics, second-half 2026 update. World totals summed by Energía Futura from the countries in the database.

China's leap explains much of the world's growth: in 2015 it had 7,977 MW and today it has four times that, with plants burning straw and farm residues and, increasingly, municipal waste. Japan is the other big accelerator: it went from 1,319 MW to 7,760 MW in ten years, with plants that import pellets and palm kernel shells. In the opposite direction, the United States fell from 12,969 MW to 10,314 MW as old biomass plants closed.

By electricity generated, the order changes slightly. China generated 146.3 TWh in 2024, more than twice Brazil (61.1 TWh). Next come Germany (51.1 TWh) and the United States (50.9 TWh), almost tied, and Japan (43 TWh). Chile ranks 21st, with 6.1 TWh, ahead of countries with more capacity, because its plants run many hours a year alongside the forestry industry.

The word bioenergy covers very different fuels. Worldwide, solid biofuels (wood, pellets, sugarcane bagasse, husks and farm residues) generated 448 TWh in 2024, 68% of the total. Renewable waste, the organic fraction of rubbish burned in energy-from-waste plants, contributed 106 TWh (16%), and biogas, obtained by fermenting manure, sludge or crops, 98 TWh (15%). Liquid biofuels are hardly used for power: 7.5 TWh.

Each country has its own recipe. In Brazil, 95% of bioenergy power is solid biomass, almost all sugarcane bagasse burned by mills to produce steam and electricity. In Germany, by contrast, biogas dominates: 34.6 of its 51.1 TWh (68%) come from thousands of farm digesters. In China, municipal waste generates 62 TWh, 42% of its bioenergy. In Chile, 99% of bioenergy generation is solid biomass.

Source: IRENA (2026), Renewable Energy Statistics. Sums and shares calculated by Energía Futura.

Measured as a share of each country's electricity, among those generating at least 10 TWh a year, bioenergy weighs most in Uruguay (22.4%), where pulp mills generate from their own residues, and Guatemala (22.2%), thanks to bagasse from its sugar mills. They are followed by Denmark (20.1%), the United Kingdom (14.1%), which converted its largest coal plant to burn pellets, and Thailand (13%). Chile generates 5.6% of its electricity from bioenergy, according to Ember.

World bioenergy capacity went from 95,444 MW in 2015 to 155,364 MW in 2025. Growth was fast until 2021 and then slowed to around 3,000 to 7,000 MW a year, far below what solar and wind add each year. The reason is that bioenergy depends on having fuel nearby at a good price, which does not scale the way a panel does.

The bioenergy ranking differs from other renewables: countries that lead in sun or wind, such as Australia or Spain, are far behind here, while nations with agribusiness or forests, like Brazil, Finland, Sweden or Thailand, rise. The comparison with all clean sources is in our ranking of countries with the most renewable energy.

Brazil holds almost all of the region's bioenergy: its 18,373 MW are nearly three times the sum of all other Latin American countries (about 6,460 MW). Next come Mexico (890 MW), Guatemala (870 MW), Chile (765 MW) and Uruguay (737 MW). In electricity generated, Chile is second in Latin America, with 6.1 TWh in 2024, behind Brazil and ahead of Uruguay (4.4 TWh) and Argentina (4.1 TWh).

Source: IRENA (2026), Renewable Energy Statistics.

Chile had 765 MW of bioenergy at the end of 2025, 29th in the world, according to IRENA. The figure jumped from 521 MW in 2024, a 47% rise in one year almost entirely in solid biomass (706 MW); the rest is 58 MW of biogas plants. The National Energy Commission records 841 MW of bioenergy in the National Electricity System in July 2026, 40.9% more than a year earlier, according to the Generadoras de Chile bulletin. The gap between the two sources is due to different criteria and cut-off dates.

Most of Chile's bioenergy is linked to the forestry and pulp industry in the centre-south, which burns bark, sawdust and black liquor to produce steam and electricity, and sells the surplus to the grid. In homes, biomass is used mainly for heating: what it costs to heat with pellets is calculated in our guide to pellet stoves.

Bioenergy generation in Chile has stayed between 4.6 and 6.1 TWh a year since 2015, while solar went from 1.2 to over 22 TWh, according to Ember. That is why its share of the mix fell from 7.5% to about 5.6%. Its advantage is that it generates day and night, like hydropower, whose country comparison is in our ranking of countries with the most hydropower.

Capacity and generation come from IRENASTAT, IRENA's statistics database, in its second-half 2026 update (capacity at end-2025 and generation for 2024). Bioenergy is the sum of solid biofuels, renewable waste, biogas and liquid biofuels; it excludes transport biofuels and firewood for heating. The world total is the sum of the 144 countries with capacity in the database. Each country's share of electricity comes from Ember (2024). Chile's capacity according to the CNE comes from the Generadoras de Chile September 2026 bulletin.

Energía Futura (2026). "Countries with the most bioenergy 2026: world ranking and Chile's place". Updated on 15 November 2026. energiafutura.cl/en/news/countries-with-the-most-bioenergy-2026-world-ranking-and-chile. Data: IRENA (2026), Renewable Energy Statistics, and Ember (2026).

Which country has the most bioenergy?

China, with 33,100 MW at the end of 2025, 21% of world capacity, according to IRENA. It is also the largest generator of bioenergy electricity: 146.3 TWh in 2024.

How much bioenergy is there in the world?

155,364 MW of capacity at the end of 2025, which generated 660 TWh in 2024, about 2% of world electricity.

Where does Chile rank in bioenergy?

29th by capacity (765 MW) and 21st by generation (6.1 TWh in 2024). It is second in Latin America in electricity generated from bioenergy, behind Brazil.

What are solid biofuels?

Organic matter burned in boilers to produce steam and electricity: wood, pellets, bark, sugarcane bagasse and farm residues. They generate 68% of the world's bioenergy power.

Which country depends most on bioenergy for its electricity?

Uruguay, which generated 22.4% of its electricity from bioenergy in 2024, followed by Guatemala (22.2%) and Denmark (20.1%), among countries generating at least 10 TWh a year.