Renewables are set to account for over 90% of global electricity capacity expansion in 5 years

According to IEA, Renewable capacity expansion in the next five years will be much faster than what was expected just a year ago. Over 2022-2027, renewables are seen growing by almost 2 400 GW in our main forecast, equal to the entire installed power capacity of China today.

IEA’s Executive Director Fatih Birol said, “The good news is that renewables and nuclear power are growing quickly enough to meet almost all this additional appetite, suggesting we are close to a tipping point for power sector emissions.”

That’s an 85% acceleration from the previous five years, and almost 30% higher than what was forecast in last year’s report, making it our largest ever upward revision.

Renewables are set to account for over 90% of global electricity capacity expansion over the forecast period. The upward revision is mainly driven by China, the European Union, the United States and India, which are all implementing existing policies and regulatory and market reforms, while also introducing new ones more quickly than expected in reaction to the energy crisis.

Global renewable energy capacity is expected to almost double and grow by 2,400 gigawatts (GW) over the 2022-2027 period, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said  new report on “Renewables 2022,” its annual report on the sector.

According to IEA, the global economy rebounded at record speed in 2021 from the COVID-19 pandemic, with GDP growth reaching 5.9%. As energy intensity improvements stalled, global energy demand increased by 5.4%. Surging energy demand was in part met by increased use of coal, resulting in a 1.9 gigatonnes (Gt) jump in emissions in 2021, the largest annual increase in global CO₂ emissions from the energy sector ever recorded.

New report showed that total CO₂ emissions from the energy sector to 36.6 Gt in 2021. Recent investment in fossil fuel infrastructure not included in the 2021 Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario would result in 25 Gt of emissions if run to the end of its lifetime (around 5% of the remaining carbon budget for 1.5 °C). At the same time, 2021 also saw renewables-based electricity generation reach an all-time high, a record more than 500 terawatt-hours (TWh) above the level in 2020.