Bogdan Tudorache

Renewable power is growing robustly around the world this year, contrasting with the sharp declines triggered by the Covid-19 crisis in many other parts of the energy sector such as oil, gas and coal, according to the Renewables 2020 report, released today by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and consulted by Energynomics.

Global energy demand is set to decline 5% – but long-term contracts, priority access to the grid and continuous installation of new plants are all underpinning strong growth in renewable electricity in 2020.

Driven by China and the United States, new additions of renewable power capacity worldwide will increase by 4% to a record level of almost 200 gigawatts this year and is estimated that capacity additions will jump in 2021 by 10%. Thie 2020 rise – representing almost 90% of the total expansion in overall power capacity globally – is led by wind, hydropower and solar PV. Wind and solar additions are set to jump by 30% in both the United States and China as developers rush to take advantage of expiring incentives.

“Renewable power is defying the difficulties caused by the pandemic, showing robust growth while others fuels struggle,” said Dr Fatih Birol, the IEA Executive Director. “The resilience and positive prospects of the sector are clearly reflected by continued strong appetite from investors – and the future looks even brighter with new capacity additions on course to set fresh records this year and next.”

The electricity generated by renewable technologies will increase by 7% globally in 2020, underpinned by the record new capacity additions. Looking further ahead, India is expected to be the largest contributor to the renewables upswing in 2021, with the country’s annual additions almost doubling from 2020.

A large number of auctioned wind and solar PV projects are expected to become operational following delays due not only to Covid-19 but also to contract negotiations and land acquisition challenges.