Global investment in new renewable energy capacity within this decade — 2010 to 2019 inclusive — is on course to reach USD 2.6 trillion, using much more gigawatts of solar energy capacity deployed than any other production technology, according to new statistics published today.
Solar power will have attracted half USD 1.3 trillion — of those USD 2.6 trillion in renewable energy capacity trades made within time. Solar alone will probably have increased from 25 GW at the beginning of 2010 into a expected 663 GW by the beginning of 2019 — enough to create all of the electricity required every year by about 100 million ordinary homes in the USA.
The global share of electricity production accounted for by renewables attained 12.9 percent, in 2018, up from 11.6 percent in 2017. This prevented an estimated 2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year — a substantial economy given global electricity industry emissions of 13.7 billion tonnes in 2018.
Including all major manufacturing technologies (fossil and zero-carbon), the decade has been set to observe a web 2,366 GW of electricity capacity installed, with solar accounting for the largest single share (638 GW), coal next (529 GW), and gas and wind from third and fourth locations (487 GW and 438 GW respectively).
The levelized cost of electricity (a step which enables comparison of different techniques of electricity production on a constant basis) is down 81 percent for solar photovoltaics because 2009; this for onshore wind is down 46 percent.
“Purchasing renewable energy is currently investing in a sustainable and profitable future, since the past ten years of incredible expansion in renewables has revealed,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme.
“But we can’t afford to be complacent. Global electricity sector emissions have climbed about 10 percent over this period. It’s apparent that we will need to rapidly step up the speed of the global change to renewables when we want to meet global climate and development objectives.”
2018 sees quarter-trillion dollar markers exceeded again
The report, published annually since 2007, also continued its original look at yearly amounts, together with global investment in renewables capacity hitting USD 272.9 billion in 2018.
While this had been 12 percent down on the preceding year, 2018 was the ninth consecutive year where capacity investment exceeded USD 200 billion and the fifth consecutive year above USD 250 billion.
The 2018 figure has been attained despite continuing drops in the funding cost of solar and wind projects, and even though a policy shift that struck investment in China in the second half of this year.
An inventory 167 GW of renewable energy capacity had been finished in 2018up from 160 GW in 2017.
Jon Moore, Chief Executive of BloombergNEF (BNEF), the research company that offers the statistics and analysis to its Global Trends report, also commented:”Sharp drops in the expense of electricity from solar and wind over recent years have significantly changed the decision confronting policy-makers. In many nations around the world, either solar or wind is the least expensive choice for electricity production.”
The report also monitors other, non-capacity investment in renewables — money entering technology and expert businesses. Every one these types of investment revealed gains in 2018. Corporate and government research and development grew up 10 percent at USD 13.1 billion, whilst equity raised by renewable energy businesses on public economies was 6 percent greater at USD 6 billion, and venture capital and private equity investment grew up 35 percent at USD 2 billion.
Total renewable energy expenditure, including these classes in addition to capacity investment, attained USD 288.3 billion in 2018, down 11 percent on the record amount of USD 325 billion attained 2017.
“The technology to utilize wind, sunlight or geothermal energy are available, they can be clean and competitive. Over 10 years Germany will create two-thirds of its energy based on renewables. We’re demonstrating an industrial country might phase out coal and coal, in precisely the exact same time, atomic energy without placing its own economy in danger” said Svenja Schulze, Germany’s Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.
Yet we’re not investing nearly enough to decarbonize energy production, heat and transport punctually to limit global warming to 2C or ideally 1.5C. If we would like to accomplish a secure and sustainable future, then we will need to do much more today concerning producing an enabling-regulatory infrastructure and environment that promote investment in renewables.”
“It is crucial to observe renewables becoming first option in many areas,” said Nils Stieglitz, President of Frankfurt School of Finance and Management. “But today we must consider beyond scaling-up renewables. Divesting from coal is merely 1 issue in the broader field of sustainable finance. Investors increasingly care if they do makes sense from the context of a low-carbon and sustainable future”
China still contributes, but renewables investment stinks
Europe as a whole spent USD 698 billion in renewables capacity within exactly the exact same period, together with Germany contributing the maximum at USD 179 billion, along with the United Kingdom USD 122 billion.
While China remained the largest single investor in 2018 (in USD 88.5 billion, down 38 percent ), renewable energy capacity investment has been spread out throughout the globe than last year, with 29 nations each investing over USD 1 billion, up from 25 in 2017 and 21 at 2016.
