Alternative Energy HQ solar power for homes, wind energy, and bio fuel issues
Initiatives aimed at cutting carbon emissions and establishing long term energy security will see renewable energy claim a 36% share of global cumulative installed capacity by the end of the decade, states the latest report from business intelligence firm GBI Research.
The new report* explains that solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind energy will be the primary technologies forecast to drive global renewable energy installed capacity from 1,695 GW in 2012 to 2,762 GW in 2020 – boosting the industry’s share of the world total installed capacity from 30% to 36%.
The solar PV sector has expanded massively in recent years, and with countries including India and China announcing ambitious future solar PV targets, there are no signs of this growth abating in the near future. Correspondingly, GBI Research predicts global solar PV installed capacity to reach 331 GW by 2020 from 97 GW in 2012, climbing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 16.6%.
Spurred on by favourable government policies in countries such as Germany, China and the US, the global installed capacity for wind is also expected to prove a key contributor to renewable energy, more than doubling from 284 GW in 2012 to 685 GW by 2020, according to GBI Research forecasts.
The capital costs of renewable energy generation are currently higher than those of conventional methods, but government initiatives and technological advances have steadily decreased renewable generation expenditure over the last four to five years, lowering the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) and further driving the industry.
I heard the futurist Ray Zurzweil dismiss the fossil fuel problem (gently) with the notion that alternatives, particularly solar, will grow exponentially instead of linearly and would rapidly replace current methods. At the time I thought how fanciful – now I feel he is right on target.