With a decade’s worth of tenacious efforts, the Renewable Energy industry has finally warmed up to the speculation of becoming the primary source of global energy. For the first time ever, renewable energy’s generation of electricity transcended coal energy and nuclear energy (for the second time) in the United States in 2022. The US Energy Information Administration announced on 27 March 2023 the swift pace of the renewable sector.
The IEA-predicted five-year growth forecast of renewables was superseded by 30 percent and made the renewable energy industry “the largest upward emendation” ever, crossing thresholds at a magnifying speed. Renewable energy stocks have been revolutionizing the energy share market.
The current predicament of the energy crisis owing to the Russia-Ukraine conflict is a historic propel towards a cleaner, greener, and more secure energy system. The quadruple challenges of mounting fossil energy prices, secure energy supplies, climate targets, and energy supply disruption concerns are the driving force behind the expedited growth of wind, solar, and other renewable energies.
14 percent of the significant increase in domestically-produced renewable energy in 2022 is credited to growth in Solar energy and Wind energy.
The Extraordinary Trajectory Of Renewable Energy
Once ruled by the environment-damaging, and climate change burning of fossils, in most of the U.S. today, Renewable Energy has become the most affordable source of energy, with Solar and Wind energy becoming the backbone of the industry expansion slated between 2022 and 2027, also one of the fastest growing sector in 2023.
The wind energy generated in Texas reigned supreme over other cities at 26 percent of the total U.S. status quo, with Iowa (10 percent) and Oklahoma (9 percent) following suit.
In solar energy at the national utility scale, California emerged victorious with 26 percent, with Texas at 16 percent and North Carolina at 8 percent trailing behind.
The projected share of wind energy in the mix of electricity generation of the U.S., according to the Energy Information Administration, will hike from its 2022 average of 11 percent to 12 percent in 2023, with Solar bumping up from 4 to 5 percent during the same. In the last ten years, the stabilized cost of wind energy declined by 70 percent, and the impressive solar energy declined by 90 percent.
The IRA (Inflation Reduction Act) inveigled the magnanimity of the renewable energy projects that went live in 2022 and is expected to continue to exert its tremendous influence on accelerating clean energy projects.
The renewable energy industry added a surplus of 78 gigawatts of wind energy capacity, a 17 percent decline from 2021.
2023 is the year of turnarounds and promising growth – the historic breakthrough of 1 terawatt / 1000 gigawatts of wind energy is anticipated to be installed on the global level. If policymakers fulfill the goals of strengthening supply chains in pace with demand, the 2-terawatt milestone can be achieved by 2030.
Stalling In 2022 With Challenges
While there is a dearth of challenges, the renewable energy industry is not infallible. An EIA report found that a major segment of the country is still reliant on climate-alternating fossil fuels. Coal-generated energy accounts for about 20 percent of the market sector while Natural gas is the biggest source of electricity at 39 percent.
“Natural Gas is a massive driver for lowering GHG emissions from electricity as it moves up to replace Coal power plants.”
But, the greenhouse gas emissions cannot continue to soar instead, need to be nixed without further ado.
With the need for renewables on the rise, industry engineers have been debating on whether renewable energy is capable of providing 100 percent of the U.S. Electricity without backup.
The sector of wind energy had stagnated in 2022 due to the switched government policies that spurred the ‘race to the bottom’ pricing – owing to inflation, permissible licensing rules, and hiked costs of logistics. Innumerous decisions await ahead with the propositions of supplying renewables to the energy grid, increasing. Existing energy grids were designed to carry through power from a constant source, intermittently in contrast to the contemporary demand for battery storage and long-distance transmissions.
Solar Energy Reigns As The Most Economic Renewable Energy
The Renewable Energy industry’s year-over-year growth is forecasted at 15 percent. The Global Wind Energy Council in Brussels projected the share of electricity that could power up 657 million homes every year – 680 gigawatts of new onshore and offshore wind projects by 2027.
China surpassed Europe in 2022 as the world’s leading offshore wind energy market and is expected to continue the glory in 2023.
Albeit the figures for Wind energy display a rosy future of renewables, Solar energy has been the most reliant and the economic choice for renewable energy adopters in most of the world, accounting for about 60 percent of the annual expansion of the next five years, outpacing even coal installations by 2027.
The wide acceptance of wind energy analogous to solar energy is incredibly lower, making it quite a convoluted situation for new investments.
The world could hasten the growth of renewable energy by taking calculated measures to expand grid infrastructure and secure financing in developing countries. The demand for this growth should not falter, even if tempted by the probable ease or fluctuation of fossil energy prices.
