 The growing dominance of the renewable energy sector was noted recently with
the release of two new reports showing that global investments in renewables
in 2009 exceeded investments in non-renewable energy sources for the second
year in succession.
According to the report from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the
International Energy Agency-backed Renewable Energy Policy Network for the
21st Century (REN21) project, the amount of new energy capacity coming from
renewable sources in Europe and the United States also exceeded that coming
from fossil fuels and nuclear for the second year.
Renewables accounted for 60 per cent of newly installed capacity in Europe
and over 50 per cent in the USA in 2009. TheREN21 report predicted that this
year or next will see the same milestone reached on a global level, with
rapid expansion in Chinese wind farms leading the rapid increase in
renewable energy capacity in developing economies.
The report also established that investment in renewable energy projects,
apart from large-scale hydro projects, reached $100bn in 2009, matching
investment in new fossil-fuel plants. However, when the $39bn invested in
hydro projects in 2009 is taken into account, investment in renewable energy
projects comfortably outstripped investment in new coal- and gas-fired power
plants.
The UNEP report which was carried out by London-based analyst firm Bloomberg
New Energy Finance, concluded that the renewable energy sector weathered the
global recession far better than had been expected.
On the other hand, UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner counseled that
while the growing level of investment in renewable energy is to be welcomed,
the pace at which new capacity is added needs to increase if the world is to
deliver the required deep cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions.
"There remains a serious gap between the ambition and the science in terms
of where the world needs to be in 2020 to avoid dangerous climate
change....But what these five years of research underlines is that, this gap
is not unbridgeable. Indeed, renewable energy is consistently and
persistently bucking the trends and can play its part in realizing a low-
carbon, resource-efficient Green Economy if government policy sends ever
harder market signals to investors." He said.
His comments were echoed by Mohamed El-Ashry, Chair of REN21, who advised
that the continued expansion of the renewable energy sector remained reliant
on government policies.
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