Drop in Renewable Costs Leads to Record Global Boost

Renewable energy capacity around the world was boosted by a record amount in 2016 and delivered at a markedly lower cost, according to new global data — although the total financial investment in renewables actually fell.

The greater “bang-for-buck” resulted from plummeting prices for solar and wind power and led to new power deals in countries including Denmark, Egypt, India, Mexico, and the United Arab Emirates all being priced well below fossil fuel or nuclear options.

Analysts warned that the U.S.’s withdrawal from the Paris climate change agreement, announced last week by Donald Trump, risked the U.S. being left behind in the fast-moving transition to a low-carbon economy.  But they also warned that the green transition was still not happening fast enough to avoid the worst impacts of global warming, especially in the transport and heating sectors.

The new renewable energy capacity installed worldwide in 2016 was 161GW, a 10 percent rise on 2015 and a new record, according to REN21, a network of public and private sector groups covering 155 nations and 96 percent of the world’s population.

The new record capacity cost $242 billion, a 23 percent reduction in investment compared to 2015, and renewables investment remained larger than for all fossil fuels.  Subsidies for green energy, however, are still much lower than those for coal, oil and gas.

New solar power provided the biggest boost — half of all new capacity — followed by wind power at a third and hydropower at 15 percent.  It is the first year that the new solar capacity added has been greater than any other electricity-producing technology.

“A global energy transition [is] well under way, with record new additions of installed renewable energy capacity, rapidly falling costs and the decoupling of economic growth and energy-related carbon dioxide emissions for the third year running,” said Arthouros Zervos, chair of REN21.  “Trump’s withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris agreement is unfortunate,” said Christine Lins, executive secretary of REN21.  “But the renewables train has already left the station and those who ignore renewables’ central role in climate mitigation risk being left behind.”

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