Mainstream Renewable Power chief executive Eddie O’Connor has called for a rethink on how investment for renewable energy projects is funded in growing markets.
He said at COP21 in Paris that the cost of funding clean energy projects is now similar to fossil generation costs, meaning countries like India can expand the number of renewable projects without tapping financial support from other countries.
O’Connor (pictured) said: “This support is not needed. In South Africa, new onshore wind can be built for less than half the cost of new coal plant. What COP21 can do is to incentivise sustainable behaviour by countries, companies, and families.
“By far the best way to do this is to put a price on carbon. A €30 price per tonne of CO2 would rapidly accelerate the transition to sustainability.”
O’Connor argues that the industry “must learn to stop whistling yesterday’s tunes” and that India and other fast growing countries can have economic development and clean energy without the need for new coal and fossil fuel projects.
“Onshore wind energy is one of the cheapest sources of new generation available today”, said O’Connor, whose company is developing wind and solar plant across a number of markets including South Africa, Egypt, Ghana, Chile and Mexico.
“The deployment of large amounts of new wind and new solar PV plant is no longer reliant on support schemes like the feed-in tariff, or green certificates.
“These programmes were very effective at bringing forward new technology when it was more expensive than new fossil plant. But, today, new wind, and in some markets, new solar PV, are now cheaper than new fossil generation.”
O’Connor has added his voice to the growing call coming from participants at COP21 and the Sustainable Innovation Forum, both being held in Paris, that the introduction of a carbon price would be the most practical way to encourage investment in wind and solar.
He said: “I welcome the remarks made yesterday at the Sustainable Innovation Forum by Achim Steiner, the executive director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), that renewables, and private sector companies are creating an “access to energy” pathway across Africa and other emerging markets.
“The adoption of a carbon price will quicken the pace at which this pathway can be built. It is important to push past the perceived difficulties that some have identified in getting agreement on a carbon price at COP21.”
Image: Mainstream
