In 2015, coal and gas-fired electrical energy generation drew less than half the record investment made in wind, solar and other renewables; one of numerous important firsts for green energy.
The Frankfurt School-UNEP Collaborating Centre for Climate & Sustainable Energy Finance and Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) launched Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2016, the 10th edition of the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP’s) annual publication. The publication states that at $266 billion, the annual global investment in new renewables capacity doubled from the estimated $130 billion invested in coal and gas power stations in 2015.
Investments in renewables, including early-stage technology and research and development and other new capacities, totalled $286 billion in 2015. The world has invested a total of $2.3 trillion in renewable energy since 2004. For the first time in 2015, developing world investments in renewables surpassed those of developed nations.
Hydro comprised 54 per cent of added gigawatt capacity of all technologies in 2015. It marked the first time new installed renewables have exceeded the capacity added from all conventional technologies. Had it not been for renewables (not including large hydro), annual global CO2 emissions in 2015 would have reached an estimated 1.5 gigatonnes higher.
According to UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner, “Renewables are becoming more central to our low-carbon lifestyles” and “record-setting investments in 2015 are further proof of this trend”. He adds that “access to clean, modern energy is of enormous value for all societies, but especially so in regions where reliable energy can offer profound improvements in quality of life, economic development and environmental sustainability.” Investment in renewables will be “a key element in achieving international targets on climate change and sustainable development”.
Michael Liebreich, Chairman of the Advisory Board at BNEF confirmed that “global investment in renewables capacity hit a new record in 2015, far outpacing that in fossil fuel generating capacity despite falling oil, gas and coal prices.” In last year’s report, the 2015 renewable energy market was dominated by wind and solar photovoltaics, which added a combined 118GW in generating capacity, greatly exceeding the previous record of 94GW set in 2014. Wind added 62GW and photovoltaics added 56GW. Biomass, waste-to-power, geothermal, solar thermal and small hydro contributed more modest amounts.
In 2015, more attention was drawn to battery storage as an addition to solar and wind projects and to small-scale PV systems. Energy storage is an important way of providing fast-responding balancing to the grid, whether dealing with variable renewable power generation from wind and solar or demand spikes. In 2015, some 250MW of utility-scale electricity storage (pumped hydro and lead-acid batteries excluded) was installed worldwide, up from 160MW in 2014.