WORLD SAW LARGEST RISE IN RENEWABLE ENERGY CAPACITY IN 2017

According to the REN21’s Renewables 2018 Global Status Report, renewable power accounted for 70% of net additions to global power-generating capacity in 2017, the largest such increase in modern history.

But the heating, cooling, and transport sectors, which together account for about four-fifths of the global final energy demand, continue to lag far behind the power sector. Solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity reached record levels.

Solar PV additions were up 29% relative to 2016, to 98 GW. More solar PV generating capacity was added to the electricity system than the net capacity additions of coal, natural gas, and nuclear power combined, said the report. Wind power also drove the uptake of renewables with 52 GW added globally.

Investment in new renewable power capacity was more than twice that of the net, new fossil fuel and nuclear power capacity combined, despite large, ongoing subsidies for fossil fuel generation. More than two-thirds of investments in power generation were in renewables in 2017 owing to increasing cost-competitiveness and the share of renewables in the power sector is expected to only continue to  rise. China, Europe and the US accounted for nearly 75% of the global investment in renewables in 2017.

However, when measured per unit of gross domestic product (GDP), the Marshall Islands, Rwanda, the Solomon Islands, Guinea- Bissau, and many other developing countries are investing as much as or more in renewables than developed and emerging economies. Both energy demand and energy-related carbon dioxide emissions rose substantially for the first time in four years. In the power sector, the transition to renewable is underway but is progressing more slowly than is possible or desirable..

Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com