Here comes the sun
Renewables are set to become the world’s leading source of electricity generation by 2025, with solar power leading the charge, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency.
The global energy crisis, exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has hastened the need for countries to look beyond fossil fuels, with the IEA expecting the world to add twice as much renewable capacity from 2022-2027 than we managed in the 5 years previous.
Power shift
As we've recreated in the chart above (which omits nuclear energy), the IEA report estimates that by 2025, renewable resources' share of the world’s power capacity is projected to hit 48%, overtaking coal and natural gas. By 2027 the growth means an extra 2,400 gigawatts of renewable power capacity — a figure that's ~30% higher than what the IEA forecast last year.
Arguably the most important narrative shift is that the move to renewables is increasingly becoming less about environmental incentives. Indeed, in many cases renewables can be the most economical choice — the IEA report states that "despite elevated commodity prices, utility-scale solar PV is the least costly option for new electricity generation in a significant majority of countries worldwide". The profit motive can be an ugly one, but when it starts to align with wider societal-goals, change can happen quickly.
Go deeper: read an executive summary of the IEA’s findings here, or dive into the full report.
