World Saw Largest Rise in Renewable Energy Capacity in 2017: Report

Both energy demand and energy-related carbon dioxide emissions rose substantially for the first time in four years. In the power sector, the transition to renewables is underway but is progressing more slowly than is possible or desirable.

The global power generating capacity has seen an exceptional rise in 2017 and the main source of the power is the renewable industry which has accounted 70 percent of the total capacity. The increase is seen as the largest of that scale in the modern history.

According to the REN21’s Renewables 2018, Global Status Report, solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity reached record levels. Solar PV additions were up 29 percent relative to 2016, to 98 GW. More solar PV generating capacity was added to the electricity system than net capacity additions of coal, natural gas, and nuclear power combined.

More than two-thirds of investments in power generation were in renewables in 2017 owing to increasing cost-competitiveness and the share of renewables in the power sector is expected to only continue to rise. China, Europe, and the US accounted for nearly 75 percent of global investment in renewables in 2017.

Both energy demand and energy-related carbon dioxide emissions rose substantially for the first time in four years. In the power sector, the transition to renewables is underway but is progressing more slowly than is possible or desirable.

A commitment made under the 2015 Paris climate agreement to limit global temperature rise to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels makes the nature of the challenge much clearer. If the world is to achieve the target set in the Paris agreement, then heating, cooling, and transport will need to follow the same path as the power sector and fast, the report warned.

Small changes are underway. In India, for example, installations of solar thermal collectors rose approximately 25 percent in 2017 as compared to 2016.