The global renewable energy market was valued at approximately $1.5 trillion in 2017, and is projected to reach roughly $2.2 trillion by 2025, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.9 percent from 2017 to 2025, according to a new report published by Allied Market Research and titled Renewable Energy Market by Type and End User: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2014-2025.
The renewable energy produced by hydro and ocean power accounted for more than two-thirds share of the global market in 2016.
The Asia Pacific region dominated the global renewable energy market, accounting for 41.1 percent share in 2016, registering a significant CAGR of around 4.8 percent during the forecast period. Europe accounted for the highest growth rate in the overall global renewable energy market, owing to government initiatives to use renewable energy and stringent environmental policies imposed on companies in this region.
Asia Pacific and Europe collectively accounted for more than two-thirds of the global market share by revenue in 2016.
According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, global clean energy investments soared in 2017, reaching $335.5 billion.
Approximately, $133 billion was invested in clean energy in China in 2017, beating its previous record in 2015 of $125 billion. A large part of this was driven by the massive installation of an estimated 53 gigawatts of solar photovoltaic capacity, up from the 30 gigawatts of capacity installed in 2016.
China installed more solar power in one year than the total cumulative solar capacity of any other country, reports Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
In the United States, Fatih Birol, the head of the International Energy Agency, told the U.S. Senate, the annual rate of growth for U.S. renewables could slow from 3.5 percent annually to 2.5 percent after 2025. And by 2040, total combined U.S. oil and gas production could rival most countries’ historic achievements.
Gloablly, 2018 looks to be another powerful year for clean energy deployment, with BNEF projecting similar levels of clean energy investment and solar reaching more than 100 gigawatts of new installed capacity. In addition, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency, the cost of renewable energy is falling so fast that electricity from renewable energy will be “consistently cheaper than from most fossil fuels” by 2020, and many countries are continuing to make progress toward their Paris Agreement climate targets.
This trend is already appearing in the United States, particularly in Colorado. Renewable-energy developers have offered to supply Xcel Energy with electricity at the lowest prices quoted in the United States, including solar and wind options with energy storage priced below coal-generated power.
In response to a Nov. 30 RFP, Xcel received more than 430 proposals, with 350 promoting renewables. More than half of the wind-only bids were at a median price quoted of $18M/Wh and solar was at a median price of $29.50 M/WH.
Based on the responses received by Xcel, wind sources with storage are now cheaper than coal generation, and solar plus storage is now cheaper than about 75 percent of coal generation in the state, according to CarbonTracker.
“As far as we know, these are the lowest renewables plus storage bids in the U.S. to date. The previously lowest known solar plus storage bid price was $45/MWh in Arizona in May 2017,” wrote Matt Gray, a senior utilities and power analyst with Carbon Tracker.