Wind turbines and solar panels in this aerial photo taken near Fuxin, China, on November 16, 2020.
Photographer: Qilai Shen / Bloomberg
Photographer: Qilai Shen / Bloomberg
Even after Covid-19 wiped out almost everything else, the new year kicks off with surging growth for renewable energy. “2020 was the year of positive environmental surprises in a way few saw coming,” said Jeff McDermott, head of Nomura Greentech. “It was the breakthrough year in the field of sustainability and infrastructure.”
Growth is likely to continue into 2021, fueled in part by last year’s major turning points. China is now committed to achieving carbon neutrality through 2060, setting the world’s largest solar and wind energy market on track to ramp up installations at the start of the next five-year plan. Some analysts have begun to predict that the US energy sector is approaching peak natural gas. That would leave room for solar panel installations to build on the ongoing boom.
Discover dynamic updates of Earth’s major data points
To understand what is driving renewable energy expansion – and what could hold it back – we’ve put together a guide of the biggest recent developments and key forces shaping the global renewable market in 2021.
American solar energy broke good and bad records in the same year
According to Wood Mackenzie and the Solar Energy Industries Association, residential installations in the US fell nearly 20% in the second quarter of 2020 from the first – the most ever – as the pandemic sparked stay-at-home orders. However, by the end of the year, the sector recovered, adding 19 gigawatts of total solar, based on December forecasts from Wood Mackenzie and SEIA. That would be slightly more power than there was in all of Colombia at the end of 2019, according to BloombergNEF.
Capacity peak
U.S. solar installations hit a record in the first nine months of 2020
Source: Wood Mackenzie and the Solar Energy Industries Association
Installations doubled in China
Even after the government shut down large areas of the country early this year, companies still wanted solar power. The country’s major solar energy group expects record growth in activity over the next five years following President Xi Jinping’s announcement in September that the country will have zero carbon emissions by 2060.
Solar energy
China’s photovoltaic industry sees new installations rising through 2025
Sources: BloombergNEF; China Photovoltaic Industry Association
A battery boom in the US.
According to Wood Mackenzie and the US Energy Storage Association, new battery storage capacity in the US has more than doubled in the third quarter of 2020 from the second. Projects in California were a major reason for the increase.
Battery voltage
The US deploys the most storage space in a quarter, thanks to projects in California
Source: Wood Mackenzie and the American Energy Storage Association
Spain is emerging as a solar power plant
Electricity from solar farms in the country with the greatest solar potential in Europe had increased by more than 60% in 2020 compared to 2019, generating more than 15,000 gigawatt hours of power, according to data from the country’s grid operator Red Electrica. While the sunny southern European country still has about a third of its installed solar capacity as the EU’s leader, Germany, the Spanish sector will grow about double the German pace in the next two years, BloombergNEF said.
Solar Spain
In the most sunny country in Europe, solar energy has risen sharply
Source: Red Electrica de Espana
Renewable main fossil fuels in European energy
During the height of the pandemic, when the general demand for electricity fell, the share of renewable energy in the electricity grid in Europe increased. According to environmental group Ember, about 40% of electricity in the European Union in the first half of 2020 came from renewable sources, compared to 34% from plants that burn fossil fuels.
Green boost
Renewable energy beat fossil fuels in the EU for the first time
Source: Ember
VK goes coal-free for more than two months
A period of 67 days became Britain’s longest stretch of coal without coal since the Industrial Revolution and helped make 2020 the greenest year yet for its power grid. Britain will phase out the polluting fuel completely by 2025, as an increasing proportion of its energy comes from wind farms. Prime Minister Boris Johnson also pledged to ban new gas cars by 2030 and spend $ 1 billion this decade to absorb the carbon emissions from at least two industrial hubs.
British Coal
Coal-fired power stations in the UK are almost a thing of the past
Source: Elexon
Solar installations have fallen a lot in India
India’s debt-laden utilities were further battered by the world’s largest lockdown in 2020, leading to a 72% drop in solar installations and the slowest addition of wind power in more than a decade. On the upside, bids to develop new solar projects continued to set new records – meaning once the energy company’s finances are in order, it’s a good bet that solar will be the cheapest option. Another little bit of good news was that clearer skies when factories and streets were empty meant that not as much smog was blocking the sun, allowing for a higher generation of the country’s existing panels.
Australia’s network is overwhelmed
High electricity prices and abundant sunshine have led to a love affair with rooftop solar, with about 29% of households now equipped with panels. This is causing widespread damage to electric utilities, with daytime electricity demand dropping to record levels in three states in 2020, leaving expensive power plants running well below capacity.
Solar panel producers are faced with rising prices
An explosion and a flood shut down two Chinese factories producing polysilicon, a critical material for photovoltaic cells, pushing prices up 75% in less than two months. Solar glass prices also rose as increased use of double-sided or bifacial panels increased demand, while capacity was limited by restrictions on heavily polluting glass factories in China. Rising costs have not impacted sales so far, but they have rippled through the solar supply chain, with module prices experiencing the first quarterly increase since 2015. That could be bad news for real estate developers offering low prices, assuming equipment costs are their long historical decline.
Pricey Polysilicon
Prices for the material of solar panels skyrocketed due to factory outages
Source: PVinsights
A new risk of climate change
While electricity outages due to the risk of wildfires have contributed to the growing interest of American homeowners in roof systems and batteries, Northern Californians discovered a cruel irony: smoke from a great blaze darkened the sun, and so the solar energy on the roof withered.