5 Countries That Run on 100% Renewable Energy (And How They Did It)
Iceland, Albania, Paraguay, Nepal, and Bhutan run entirely on renewables. See how each country built a 100% clean electricity grid, some for 40+ years.
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Iceland runs on two things: hydropower and geothermal energy. Hydropower makes up 70% of its electricity. Geothermal, pulled straight from volcanic rock, covers the rest.
It started with a crisis. In 1973, oil prices spiked around the world. Iceland decided it never wanted to depend on imported fuel again. So it built its energy system around what it already had: rivers and volcanoes.
The payoff shows up in people's bills. Icelanders enjoy some of the cheapest electricity on Earth. Geothermal heat also warms most homes in the country through underground pipes.
What's next: Iceland wants to fuel its fishing fleet with green hydrogen. It's one of the last pieces of the economy still burning fossil fuel.
1: Iceland
Somewhere in the world right now, someone is charging their phone, running a washing machine, or turning on the lights. And no fossil fuel is being burned to make any of it happen.
That's daily life in Iceland, Albania, Paraguay, Nepal, and Bhutan. These five countries generate essentially all their electricity from renewables. No coal. No gas. No oil.
Some have run this way for over 40 years. Here's how each one pulled it off.
2: Albania
Albania gets almost all its power from hydro dams. Most were built decades ago, during the communist era of the 1970s and 80s.
The system keeps growing. Since 2008, Albania has expanded its hydro capacity by 65%. The government has signed 130 contracts for new plants. Forty-five are already running.
Here's the catch: hydropower needs rain. Scientists expect Albania's rainfall to drop by up to 6.3% by 2050. Less rain means less power.
What's next: Albania is adding solar to the mix, especially for summer months when water levels run low.
3: Paraguay
Paraguay's entire clean energy story comes down to one structure: the Itaipu Dam. Built with Brazil, it's been running since 1984. It's one of the biggest hydroelectric dams on the planet.
Paraguay only needs a fraction of the power the dam produces. The rest gets sent to Brazil and Argentina. One dam. Three countries powered.
What's next: Paraguay is exploring solar, wind, and bioenergy, so it isn't relying on a single piece of infrastructure forever.
4: Nepal
Nepal's rivers carry snowmelt down from the Himalayas, and that water generates 98.6% of the country's electricity.
For years, Nepal used every watt at home. That changed in 2021. For the first time, Nepal had enough extra power to start selling electricity to India and Bangladesh during the rainy season.
What's next: A new hydro plant, set to open in 2033, will add over 1,000 megawatts to the grid, more than boosting current output.
5: Bhutan
Bhutan has never built a fossil fuel power plant. Its entire grid runs on hydropower, a system built with India's help starting in the 1960s.
Its newest major plant, Mangdechhu, came online in 2019. Bhutan sells much of its extra electricity to India, turning clean energy into real income for the country.
Bhutan does something almost no other country can claim: it's carbon negative. Its forests soak up more carbon than the country produces.
What's next: Bhutan has only tapped 7% of its total hydropower potential. Funding, not resources, is what's holding it back.
Why It Matters
These five countries don't share a landscape, a government, or an economy. What they share is a strategy: build around what nature already gave you, instead of importing fuel from somewhere else.
They're not the only ones close to this goal. Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo generate over 99.7% of their electricity from renewables too. Norway isn't far behind, at 98.38%, and it pairs that clean grid with the world's highest rate of electric car sales.
But 100% clean electricity doesn't always mean 100% access. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, almost all power comes from hydro, yet only 9% of the population is actually connected to the grid. Clean and accessible are two different problems. The best success stories will need to solve both.
The Takeaway
Renewable investment hit almost $500 billion worldwide in 2022. Solar alone made up 73% of all renewable growth in 2023, and it's on track to become the world's top energy source by 2050.
That means the next countries to join this list probably won't need a volcano or a mega-dam. They'll get there with solar panels and wind turbines, tools that almost any country on Earth can build.
The blueprint for a 100% clean grid isn't a theory. It's already running, quietly, in five countries most people have never thought to check.
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