In recent years, the phenomenal growth of solar and wind power has given new hope to worldwide efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the most serious impacts of climate change. The renewable energy market size has grown significantly in the last few years. Solar and wind together accounted for barely 1.7 percent of worldwide power output in 2010. By last year, it had risen to 8.7%, significantly more than what conventional energy models had expected. For example, the International Energy Agency predicted that worldwide solar energy output will reach 550 terrawatt-hours by 2030 in 2012, but that amount has already been surpassed by 2018. These models frequently presume that solar and wind power would expand in a linear fashion, but in reality, growth has been exponential. Understanding the previous exponential expansion of renewable energy market size offers us reason to be more confident about how quickly it can ramp up in the future to fulfill climate targets. This article describes why solar and wind energy are becoming more popular, how far they've come, and what more has to be done.
Falling costs have been the most important element in the rapid growth of the renewable energy business. Solar photovoltaic power costs have dropped by 85% since 2010, while the costs of onshore and offshore wind generation have been slashed in half. Both of these renewable energy sources are currently cheaper than fossil fuel power. Due to economies of scale and competitive supply chain the more renewable energy technologies are implemented, the less expensive they get. As a result of the lower costs, more deployment is happening. For example, every time the quantity of solar power deployed globally has doubled in the last decade, the cost of deploying solar capacity has decreased by 34%. Due to modular designs of renewable energy systems, technological changes done in one region can be easily deployed to another region in cost efficient way. The emergence of renewable energy has also relied heavily on support from policymakers. Renewable energy tax credits and subsidies, feed-in tariffs, and competitive auctions have all helped to bring down prices and speed up implementation.
Furthermore, financial support provided by the government in R&D sector has been crucial in advancing renewable energy technologies.
Despite apparent momentum, it appears that renewables growth must accelerate, while the exact amount of acceleration required remains unknown. More governmental assistance is required to ensure that renewable energy adoption follows an S-curve and expands at a rate sufficient to satisfy the Paris Agreement's targets. All governments, especially those that aren't now pioneers in this field, will need to encourage rapid implementation and continue to reduce prices.
Although renewable energy sector is already growing, more support is needed from the government for the growth to be more sustainable. Governments should set objectives and mandates for renewable energy consumption. These are most commonly used in the electricity sector, but they should also be used in other end-use industries including as heating and cooling, industrial, and transportation. To accommodate renewables, governments will need to expand the flexibility of the power grid, for example, by investing in long-distance transmission lines and adopting new energy storage technologies.
Leading market research companies which provide renewable energy market analysis are Strategy Here, BIS research, Mordor Intelligence and CSP.
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