Solar & Wind Energy to rise to 8% by 2018
Solar and Wind energy should double their share of the global electricity generation to 8% by 2018 from 4% in 2011, according to a new report by IEA. Hydro Energy will continue to be the biggest renewable source with almost 17% of the share. Solar and Wind Energy generation is growing much faster than fossil fuel sources because of their falling costs and support from governments around the world. I think that is an underestimate, as solar costs are falling very sharply making them competitive with grid electricity prices in a number of places in the world. The solar growth has been repeatedly been underestimated by analysts and market firms, as the solar panel costs have gone done by 90%. The entry of giant Chinese firms like Sinovel and Goldwind has also drastically reduced the equipment costs of building wind farms.
These companies have broken the cozy oligopoly of Vestas, Suzlon and others who are now facing bankruptcy. China has been the biggest driver of growth from both the supply and demand side. Europe has also been a technology leader and fostered the growth of the solar industry, thanks to very generous subsidies given earlier. Solar growth is now being powered by Asia and the smaller countries in Latin America, Africa and USA. The countries need to do more in terms of policy support and continuity. Not only fossil fuels are costing an increasing amount of money but they are also harmful to the environment. Pollution has become a huge problem in countries around the world especially in China. Global warming has already caused large ice blocks to melt in the Arctic and are causing extreme weather. The past decade has seen the hottest years on record as well.
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Google+A new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA), stating that global power generation from hydro, wind, solar and other renewable sources will exceed that of gas and be twice that of nuclear by 2016, is receiving widespread news coverage.Renewable power is expected to increase by 40% in the next five years, according to the IEA’s second annual Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Report launched last Wednesday in New York.According to the report, renewables are now the fastest-growing power generation sector and will make up almost a quarter of the global power mix by 2018, up from an estimated 20% in 2011.
In addition, the report found that the share of non-hydro sources such as wind, solar, bioenergy and geothermal in total power generation will double, reaching 8% by 2018, up from 4% in 2011 and just 2% in 2006.
“As their costs continue to fall, renewable power sources are increasingly standing on their own merits versus new fossil-fuel generation,” IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven said as she presented the report at the Renewable Energy Finance Forum.
