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IEA: Renewables Will Lead Global Generation in 2025

November 11, 2020

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The world’s power generation is about to become even more green, according to a new publication from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The group on Nov. 10 published its “Renewables 2020″ report, and highlighted how generation capacity from both wind and solar will double across the next five years and surpass global generation from both coal and natural gas. The IEA said renewable energy this year is growing at its fastest annual pace in the past six years, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. The agency said the pandemic has in fact hastened the closure of older thermal power generation infrastructure; as an example, American Electric Power this week announced it would shut down nearly half its entire fleet of U.S. coal-fired power plants.

The IEA in the report said “the COVID-19 crisis is hurting—but not halting—global renewable energy growth,” noting that “renewable markets, especially electricity-generating technologies, have already shown their resilience to the crisis.”…

Energy Deals Shift to Renewables and U.S. Shale Bargains

October 24, 2020

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At a time when deal activity in the energy and natural resources sector has slowed dramatically—down 26.2% globally year-on-year—one development in particular may define the industry’s near-term future.

In mid-May 2020, French oil major Total opted not to pursue a deal, announced in 2019, to purchase the African assets of Anadarko Petroleum, a U.S. producer that was being acquired by Occidental Petroleum. Two weeks after it withdrew its $ 8.8 billion proposal for offshore oil and gas properties in Ghana, Total announced it would spend about $ 3.8 billion for a majority stake in a renewable energy project in the British North Sea. Total’s decision to move away from traditional oil and gas investments could be an indicator of what lies ahead for the industry.

The oil and gas sector was already on the brink of radical change before the COVID-19 pandemic crushed global demand for energy.…

Reduced Cost for Renewables Supports Sector Growth

June 4, 2020

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A new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) shows costs for renewable power are increasingly cheaper than those for generation from coal, reinforcing the trend of increased investment in solar and wind power and away from fossil fuel-powered electricity production.

The IRENA report—Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2019—showed that more than half of the new renewable energy generation capacity added worldwide last year operated at a lower cost than even the least-expensive new coal-fired power plants. Its findings echoed the sentiments of several U.S. renewable energy advocates who participated in an online panel discussion Tuesday organized by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) and attended by POWER.

The report, released June 2, said recent power auction results show the trend of cheaper solar photovoltaic (PV) and onshore wind power is accelerating, putting more economic pressure on coal plants, and “reinforcing the case to phase-out coal entirely.”…

China Ramping Renewables, and Building More Coal Plants

November 30, 2019

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Officials in China in 2017 said the country—the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases—would move away from coal-fired power generation. They promptly canceled more than 100 coal power plant construction projects.

But coal remains king in China, which in the past two years has added 43 GW of coal-fired generation capacity, according to a report released in mid-November by Global Energy Monitor (GEM). Air quality has improved in some parts of the country; the Swiss firm IQAir AirVisual in September said Beijing no longer is among the world’s 200 most-polluted cities, and said particulate levels are at their lowest point since record-keeping began in 2008. But the IQAir report said other areas of China continue to see upticks in pollution as local officials back coal-fired generation in an effort to support economic growth.

A Greenpeace official—the environmental group issues global air quality reports in concert with IQAir—recently said emissions of nitrogen oxide and other pollutants rose last year in northern China’s industrial region as cement and steel production increased to supply a government-backed flurry of construction.…

‘GREEN Act of 2019’ Extends Tax Credits for Renewables

November 20, 2019

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The Ways and Means Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives on Nov. 19 released a draft tax package for clean energy projects that includes a five-year extension of the 30% solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC), along with new incentives for energy storage.

The legislation also supports incentives for electric vehicles (EVs), offshore and onshore wind farms, and energy efficiency measures, among other items.

“This bill will build on existing tax incentives that promote renewable energy and increase efficiency and create new models for technology and activity to reduce our carbon footprint,” Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures, said in a statement Tuesday.

Critics of the package include six groups—Americans for Tax Reform, Americans for Prosperity, the Center for a Free Economy, FreedomWorks, Heritage Action, and the National Taxpayers Union. Those groups earlier Tuesday shared a letter and asked lawmakers not to extend tax credits or give more support for renewable energy, saying phaseouts of credits adopted in 2015 should be continued.…

EIA: Renewables Will Account for Half of Global Power Generation by 2050

October 2, 2019

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Solar power is expected to take a larger share of global power generation across the next 30 years, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), as renewable energy continues to be adopted worldwide.

The EIA’s International Energy Outlook 2019 (IEO2019), released Oct. 2, shows 28% of the world’s power came from renewables in 2018, nearly all of that from wind, solar, and hydropower. The EIA forecasts that renewables will account for almost half—49%—of global electricity output by 2050, with solar generation showing the most growth, while hydro grows more slowly.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, International Energy Outlook 2019

Solar and other renewables’ growth is not limited to utilities or government efforts to expand the sector. Several companies are using renewables to power their commercial and industrial operations. Exxon Mobil, the oil giant which recently reported $ 20.8 billion in earnings in 2018, signed a 12-year deal with Danish energy company Ørsted late last year to purchase solar and wind power in West Texas.…