SDG 7 | Affordable and clean energy
Renewables set a new generation record in Spain, but they are still not capable of cleaning up the emissions of the most polluting energy
Fossil resources are not infinite and the pressure for the future of the planet is increasing. The world demand for energy, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), will increase by 70% until 2040. A growth that must be driven by renewable energies to meet the different international objectives to curb global warming.
The average temperature of the earth’s surface has increased 1.18 degrees Celsius since the end of the 19th century. NASA’s “climate spiral” increasingly resembles a tornado that threatens to wipe out historical records.
In fact, 2019 was the second warmest year since recorded data exists, behind 2016, according to the Copernicus European Climate Change Service (C3S). Renewables are presented as one of the most useful tools to decarbonize the economy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.
According to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2021, the energy transition is turning green. With this data, the world has recently installed enough solar panels to generate 1TW of electricity directly from the sun. However, the recent Global Electricity Review report by Ember analysts lowers the ‘eco’ hopes.
“Wind and solar energy must maintain high compound growth rates of 20% each year until 2030 to keep 1.5ºC within reach,” they point out. The figure, last 2021, remained at 17%, but “the most important countries are showing that it is possible to achieve it,” they point out in the report.
the sun rises
The return to normality after the halt in activity, forced by the appearance of Covid-19, has caused energy demand to return to its normal levels after the atypical 2020. “Wind and solar energy have arrived,” says Dave Jones, global head of Ember. However, they only account for 10% of global electricity generation.
In the last twelve months, global solar generation increased by 23% and was “the source of electricity generation that increased the most for the seventeenth consecutive year,” according to data from these analysts. For the first time, the figure reached 1,000 TWh, “this is roughly equivalent to adding another India to global electricity demand.”
This historical growth is due to the push of the Asian economies, especially China, which grew by 13% compared to 2020. A figure similar to that registered in Spain, which together with the Netherlands signed a +10% increase in the expansion of solar energy in the power generation in the country.
Despite the unprecedented increase in wind and solar power generation, with these, only 29% of the global increase in electricity demand was reached in 2021. While in Spain, this figure jumps from 30% to become a third of the total energy produced within national borders.
Therefore, fossil fuels supplied the remaining increase in demand. Only coal generation supplied 59% of the increase in electricity demand in the last twelve months.
more coal is burned
The return to normality caused an increase in solar and wind energy, but also in coal burning. The energy generated with this fossil rose by 9.0% in 2021 to 10,042 TWh, a new all-time high, and 2% more than the previous record set in 2018. “This is the largest percentage increase recorded since at least 1985,” Ember’s report notes.
New coal records were set across Asia in 2021, with electricity demand booming, including China (+9%), India (+11%), Indonesia, Kazakhstan (+6%), Mongolia ( +13%), Pakistan (+8%) and the Philippines (+8%).
In 2021, coal-fired power in the United States, the European Union, and Japan rebounded considerably compared to 2020, but remained below 2019 levels.
“Although power and carbon emissions hit another all-time high, there are clear signs that the global electricity transition is underway,” Jones said.
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