Sian Crampsie
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has called on governments to keep renewable energy policies stable to help support the continued growth of clean technologies and combat climate change.
In its annual market report, the IEA says that renewable energy will represent the largest single source of electricity growth over the next five years, but warns that policy uncertainty will harm the chances of technologies reaching their full potential.
"Renewables are poised to seize the crucial top spot in global power supply growth, but this is hardly time for complacency," said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol as he released the IEA's Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Report 2015 (MTRMR) at the G20 Energy Ministers Meeting. "Governments must remove the question marks over renewables if these technologies are to achieve their full potential, and put our energy system on a more secure, sustainable path."
Renewable electricity additions over the next five years will top 700 GW - more than twice Japan's current installed power capacity. They will account for almost two-thirds of net additions to global power capacity. Non-hydro sources such as wind and solar photovoltaic panels (solar PV) will represent nearly half of the total global power capacity increase.
The IEA report sees the share of renewable energy in global power generation rising to over 26 per cent by 2020 from 22 per cent in 2013 - a remarkable shift in a very limited period of time. By 2020, the amount of global electricity generation coming from renewable energy will be higher than today's combined electricity demand of China, India and Brazil.
According to the IEA, technology progress, improved financing conditions and expansion of deployment to new markets has helped to drive down the cost of renewable generation. Announced prices for long-term generation contracts at reduced levels are emerging in areas as diverse as Brazil, India, the Middle East, South Africa and the United States. As such, some countries and regions now have the potential to leapfrog to a development paradigm mainly based on increasingly affordable renewable power.
"Affordable renewables are set to dominate the emerging power systems of the world," Birol said. "With excellent hydro, solar and wind resources, improving cost-effectiveness and policy momentum, renewables can play a critical role in supporting economic growth and energy access in Sub-Saharan Africa, meeting almost two-thirds of the region's new demand needs over the next five years."
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