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Green growth outpaces fossil fuels, but more is needed from governments
GLOBAL
GLOBAL renewable generating capacity grew by 7.4% to 2,537GW in 2019, bringing online 176GW of new installations, a new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) found.
However, additions dipped slightly from 179GW in 2019 and the agency urged govern- ments to adopt more supportive policies to increase the rate of growth and to use renewables to develop more resilient economies.
Asia, including China, dominated growth, accounting for 54% of new additions, while wind and solar provided 90% of the 176GW of new capacity worldwide.
Meanwhile, renewables represented 72% of total new generating capacity, up from 66% in 2018.
“Renewable energy is a cost-effective source of new power that insulates power markets and consumers from volatility, supports economic stability and stimulates sustainable growth,” said IRENA director-general Francesco La Camera.
On a regional basis, Asia added 95.5GW of green capacity, while Europe was next with 35.3GW. However, the fastest growing regions were Oceania and the Middle East, with respec- tive growth rates of 18.4% and 12.6%.
The report noted that compared to 2018, capacity growth in Asia and Africa was some- what lower than in 2019, but higher in Europe and North America.
However, the report warned that global green growth actually declined in 2019 from 179GW in 2018, the first year when expansion in renew- ables was seen to slow down.
However, new non-renewables additions plummeted further from 95GW in 2018 to 68GW in 2019. This reflected a global slowdown in capacity growth.
Indeed, the report noted that while expan- sion of renewables slowed last year, total renew- able power growth outpaced fossil fuel growth by a factor of 2.6, continuing the dominance of renewables in power expansion first established in 2012.
The figures showed that while 2019 saw an absolute decline in green capacity in megawatt terms, green energy’s share of new capacity continued to rise to 72% as fossil fuel plants are retired.
In terms of technology, solar dominated new additions with 98GW, with wind next at 59GW.
While welcoming the figures, IRENA acknowledged that more needed to be done to continue to drive forward renewable energy, particularly during the current coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis.
“While the trajectory is positive, more is required to put global energy on a path with sustainable development and climate mitigation – both of which offer significant economic ben- efits,” said La Camera.
“At this challenging time, we are reminded of the importance of building resilience into our economies. In what must be the decade of action, enabling policies are needed to increase invest- ments and accelerate renewables adoption,” she added.
Given the current COVID-19 crisis, the slight dip in green additions from 179GW in 2018 to 176GW in 2019 is now forecast to continue, as the economic disputation creates bottlenecks in some supply chains, and local currencies fall against the US dollar.
Analysis from Rystad Energy found that the previously ambitious growth forecasts for solar and wind for 2020 now face being wiped out, with growth now forecast at zero for 2020, and even -10% in 2021.
Wood Mackenzie, meanwhile, cut its 2020 wind additions outlook by 4.9GW to 73GW, with the most significant potential impact in China and the US.
IRENA’s urging of governments to put in place more enabling policies to push renewa- bles forward echoes the recent warning from the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) that the global rate of wind growth was still too slow.
TheGWEC said that 100GW per year was needed until 2030 and 200GW from 2030 to meet the 1.5°C pathway called for by the Paris Agreement.™
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Week 14 09•April•2020