The Global Need For New Energy

Stalling Renewables Growth Raises Concern About Global Decarbonization Efforts

Brian Murray, May 17, 2019 (Forbes)

“…The 2018 leveling off global New Energy growth] counters a long and steady trend of increased new renewable capacity…[which made capacity added in 2018] ten times higher than it was in 2001…[Plans to address the climate crisis call] for massive mobilization of renewable energy investment…The International Energy Agency (IEA) reports that new renewable energy capacity additions in 2018 were about 180 gigawatts (GW), the same as in 2017…[New Energy accounted] for two-thirds of annual global capacity additions last year…[and] one-third of all power generating capacity is now from renewables…[Because of capacity factors, New Energy] only supplied 40 percent of the growth in total global electricity demand. Consequently, global CO2 emissions from the energy sector rose by 1.7 percent…[G]lobal solar PV’s exponential growth had been compensating for slower increases in wind and hydropower since 2015…[but solar] PV’s growth flattened in 2018…as China suddenly changed its solar PV incentives to address cost and grid integration challenges…Other factors behind last year’s slowdown in renewable capacity are a drop off in wind investment in the EU and India…

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It is tempting to conclude that in due time renewables will outcompete fossil generation everywhere without reliance on targeted policies…But that is not guaranteed…First, energy storage technologies and grid improvements must catch up to integrate the higher levels of renewables. Both movements are underway. Second, although the average unit cost of renewables has been declining through technical improvements and scale economies, the marginal cost of generation rises as you move from the choicest spots with the least expensive land and the most productive resources to those that are more expensive and less productive…Policies will continue to play an important role for renewables for the foreseeable future…” click here for more

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