'Deeply worrying': New global renewables capacity stalled in 2018. International Energy Agency data prompts fresh concerns about world's ability to meet long-term climate change goals.
The amount of new renewable power capacity added around the world stalled in 2018, according to new figures from the International Energy Agency (IEA), which today described the latest data as a "deeply worrying" development in the battle against climate change.
Global growth in renewable power capacity failed to increase
Last year's performance marks the first time since 2001 that global growth in renewable power capacity failed to increase year on year, with new solar PV, wind, hydro, bioenergy and other clean electricity projects delivering around 180GW of net capacity in total - the same level as 2017 - the IEA said.
Renewables capacity additions need to grow by over 300GW on average every year between 2018 and 2030 in order to deliver on the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change, the IEA explained, yet last year's additions worldwide represented only around 60 per cent of that annual goal.
In recent years investment in clean energy sources has slipped, but until now the slowdown in spending has been more than offset by plummeting solar and wind energy costs. However, last year marks the first time that capacity deployments also stalled as policy changes and economic concerns in key markets took their toll.
IEA executive director Fatih Birol said the latest data showed the world was still not doing enough to scale up renewables and clean power sources. It follows recent confirmation that energy-related CO2 emissions rose again in 2018, climbing 1.7 per cent to an historic high of 33 gigatonnes, despite renewable power generation capacity having grown by seven per cent overall.
Governments need to act quickly to correct this situation
"The world cannot afford to press 'pause' on the expansion of renewables and governments need to act quickly to correct this situation and enable a faster flow of new projects," Birol said. "Thanks to rapidly declining costs, the competitiveness of renewables is no longer heavily tied to financial incentives. What they mainly need are stable policies supported by a long-term vision but also a focus on integrating renewables into power systems in a cost-effective and optimal way. Stop-and-go policies are particularly harmful to markets and jobs."
Since 2015, exponential growth in solar power worldwide has been compensating for slower increases in wind and hydropower, according to the IEA. However, solar PV capacity growth slowed in 2018, falling short of expectations by adding just 97GW, largely due to changes in China's PV incentives designed to curb costs and address grid integration challenges.
The slowdown in China's solar market was compensated somewhat by stable growth in the US, as well as increased solar PV deployment in Europe, Mexico, the Middle East and Africa. But the IEA also revealed that relatively low wind power capacity additions in Europe and India also contributed to the overall stalling in renewables growth last year.
In the EU, the second largest market worldwide for clean energy, renewables capacity additions fell slightly overall, due to the slow down in wind energy deployment, which more than offset gains for the solar PV sector.
Birol said the 2018 data was "deeply worrying", but he also stressed that falling clean tech costs, maturing grid technologies, and established policy successes demonstrated that a recovery in renewables deployment was possible. "Smart and determined policies can get renewable capacity back on an upward trend," he said. The IEA's analysis differs slightly from that of leading clean energy analyst Bloomberg NEF (BNEF), which earlier this year reported that renewables capacity additions had ticked upwards last year. BNEF's methodology differs from the IEA's which only includes known projects, whereas BNEF's includes a buffer for additional laggard projects that can be confirmed well after the year is complete.
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