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The United States Energy Information Administration (“EIA”) stated in an October 2nd report that renewable energy will constitute approximately 49% of global electricity generation by 2050.
In 2018 28% of available electricity was generated from renewable energy sources.
As to allocation of contribution among the top three renewable sources, EIA projects solar’s share will grow the fastest. Hydroelectric’s share is projected to grow the slowest. The projected increase is stated to be driven by:
- Resource availability
- Renewable policies
- Regional load growth
- Declining technology costs
The EIA report includes analysis of eight countries and eight multi-country regions. It notes that different regional and technology-specific factors influence the growth rates of renewable technologies throughout the world.
In commenting on solar and wind, the report notes:
- Solar resources are generally more abundant than wind resources in many regions and follow very predictable daily and seasonal generation patterns (also noting relatively simple plant construction)
- Wind power is still a relatively new technology and declining capital costs it experiences as a result of learning-by-doing effects are not as steep as solar technology (but noting that wind technology adoption has significant growth potential because many wind resource areas around the world are not yet developed)
A copy of the report can be downloaded here.
