IEA boosts renewables forecast

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has increased its forecast for renewable power growth through 2021 by 13% following a record 2015.

The IEA now expects the share of renewables in global generation to reach 28% by 2021 compared with 23% last year, when 153GW of new capacity was installed.

Sharp cost reductions as well as strong policy support in key countries, such as the US, China, India and Mexico, will drive growth, it said.

The agency’s new ‘Medium-Term Renewable Market Report’ identifies policy and market frameworks that would boost renewable capacity growth by almost 30% in the next five years, leading to an annual market of about 200GW.

Renewables already represented more than half the new power capacity installed around the world last year, beating coal, IEA said.

Costs are expected to drop by a quarter in solar PV and 15% for onshore wind over the forecast period, according to the agency.

“We are witnessing a transformation of global power markets led by renewables and, as is the case with other fields, the centre of gravity for renewable growth is moving to emerging markets,” IEA executive director Fatih Birol said.

“I am pleased to see that last year was one of records for renewables and that our projections for growth over the next five years are more optimistic,” he said.

“However, even these higher expectations remain modest compared with the huge untapped potential of renewables,” he added.

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