Search
Close this search box.
Search
Close this search box.
Share

World nearly on track to triple renewables by 2030 — IEA

A photo of offshore wind turbines generating renewable electricity.
Photo: Ian Dyball/Dreamstime

Thanks to supportive policies and favourable economics, the world’s renewable power capacity is expected to nearly triple over the rest of this decade, according to the International Energy Agency’s projections.

The context: At the COP28 climate summit in 2023, most countries committed to tripling renewable energy installations and doubling energy efficiency improvements by 2030, while also building more sustainable food systems. Achieving these goals would give us a better shot at averting a full-blown climate catastrophe.

The latest: More than 5,500 gigawatts (GW) of new renewable energy capacity will likely be installed between 2024 and 2030 — almost three times the increase seen between 2017 and 2023, per the IEA. That includes 670 GW this year alone. China continues to account for the bulk of additions, and from a technology perspective, solar is comfortably leading the way.

Based on these trends, renewables will generate close to half of global electricity by 2030, up from slightly over 30% today.

Global capacity will reach 2.7 times its 2022 level by 2030 — nearly in line with the COP28 commitment. And according to the ‘accelerated case’ forecast in the IEA analysis, fully meeting the tripling target “is entirely possible” if governments take near-term opportunities for action.

The rapid shift is partly due to a sharp decline in the cost of renewables over the past decade. Solar PV and wind are now the cheapest options when adding new electricity generation capacity in almost every country, the IEA says.

“Renewables are moving faster than national governments can set targets for,” says IEA executive director Fatih Birol.

However, this brings challenges, including the fact that existing power grids are struggling to cope with the flood of new capacity.

Recently, rates of curtailment — where renewable electricity output is wasted — have been increasing substantially, already reaching around 10% in several countries.

To address this, countries should focus on integration measures such as increasing power system flexibility, the IEA says. They’ll also need to build and modernise a combined 25 million kilometres of grid infrastructure and reach 1,500 GW of storage capacity by 2030.

And to meet the goal of tripling renewables by the end of the decade, financing for developing countries will need to be ramped up.

Tags: International energy agency, Renewables, Solar
Share

Our content is free to read. However, if you’d like to help us scale up and maximise our reach and impact, you can make a one-off or monthly contribution here.

Related Articles

The share of fossil fuels in the nation's electricity mix has rapidly shrunk.
A pioneer of big batteries and other decarbonisation tech, the state aims to get to 100% net renewables within seven years.
The country currently gets around 40% of its electricity from renewables, and that share will climb to almost 50% by the end of next year.
Using gas for heating is likely to become increasingly expensive in the coming years due to a dwindling user base and rising emissions costs.
The country, which recently shut its last coal-fired power plant, plans to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 81% by 2035.
Other cities that may follow suit include Cardiff, Glasgow, Rotterdam, and Johannesburg.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *