Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.25
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Over the next five years, renewables will remain the fastest-growing source of electricity generation, with their share growing to 28 percent in 2021 from 23 percent in 2015, according to the Medium-Term Renewable Market Report of the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Renewables are expected to cover more than 60 percent of the increase in world electricity generation over the medium term, rapidly closing the gap with coal, according to the report published on IEA website.
EIA said that while Asia takes the lead in renewable growth, this only covers a portion of the region’s fast-paced rise in electricity demand.
“China alone is responsible for 40 percent of global renewable power growth, but that represents only half of the country’s electricity demand increase,” said the report. “This is in sharp contrast with the European Union, Japan and the US where additional renewable generation will outpace electricity demand growth between 2015 and 2021.”
“We are witnessing a transformation of global power markets led by renewables and, as is the case with other fields, the center of gravity for renewable growth is moving to emerging markets,” said Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director.
IEA said that 2015 marked a turning point for renewables.
“Led by wind and solar, renewables represented more than half the new power capacity around the world, reaching a record 153 Gigawatt (GW), 15 percent more than the previous year,” said the report.
Most of these gains were driven by record-level wind additions of 66 GW and solar PV additions of 49 GW, IEA analysts believe.