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| Mon, 15th Jun 2020 15:23:00 |
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Renewables Could Be The Big Winner In The Post-Pandemic World |
Although the coronavirus crisis has slowed down clean energy investments and installations, renewable energy and green technologies have the chance to emerge as the winners in the post-COVID-19 world.
Undoubtedly, the global health crisis has impacted every corner of the energy industry, including renewables.
Yet, renewable energy has so far been the energy source most resilient to lockdown measures. Demand for renewables is set to grow this year—and this will be the only energy source to grow in 2020 compared to 2019, in contrast to all fossil fuels and nuclear, according to a recent report from the International Energy Agency (IEA). While the agency predicts that renewable power capacity installations globally will return to pre-virus levels as early as in 2021, the jury is still out on when (and if) global oil demand will return to its ‘normal’ consumption level of around 100 million barrels per day (bpd).
Some analysts argue that we may have already hit peak oil demand, considering that the pandemic might result in lasting changes in consumer behavior and lifestyles, such as the opportunity to work from home indefinitely. Even the bosses of BP and Shell do not rule out the notion that the world may have already seen peak oil demand.
Throw in the growing investor pressure on the oil industry to start addressing climate change and Big Oil's pledges for net-zero emissions, and here we have another driver of clean energy technology development and installation.
In 2019, renewables dwarfed conventional generation sources in terms of both capacity additions and investment, a new report from Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, UN Environment Program (UNEP), and BNEF showed. As much as 78 percent of net gigawatts of generating capacity added globally in 2019 was renewable energy, with investment in renewables – excluding large hydropower – more than three times the investment in new fossil fuel-powered plants.
Read original full article
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