These applications – known collectively as distributed PV – are the focus of the IEA’s Renewables 2019 market report, which was released today.
According to the IEA, renewable-based power capacity will rise by 1.2 terawatts (TW) by 2024 from 2.5 TW last year. That’s the equivalent to the total installed current power capacity of the United States, says the Financial Post.
The IEA used market analysis on renewable energy and technologies, including solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, to project industry trends through 2024. They then summarized their projections for capacity, which refers to the maximum amount of power that installations can produce, in a statement: “This increase of 1,200 gigawatts—equivalent to the current total power capacity of the United States—is driven by cost reductions and concerted government policy efforts. Solar PV accounts for 60 percent of the rise. The share of renewables in global power generation is set to rise from 26 percent today to 30 percent in 2024.”
IEA executive director Fatih Birol said Monday that “renewables are already the world’s second-largest source of electricity, but their deployment still needs to accelerate if we are to achieve long-term climate, air quality, and energy access goals.”
Solar PV will account for the majority of that growth as costs continue to fall. And a big part of solar PV’s expansion will come from the installation of PV systems on homes, commercial buildings & industrial facilities.
Find out much more: October 21, 2019
As a matter of fact, the agency is projecting that solar PV will account for nearly 60 percent of the growth, compared to 25 percent from offshore wind.
Falling technology costs and more effective government policies are behind the upbeat report, even though there are still three major challenges to overcome in boosting deployment. They include “policy and regulatory uncertainty, high investment risks, and system integration of wind and solar PV,” according to the IEA’s report.
By 2024, the number of solar rooftop systems on homes could double to about 100 million, with high demand in Austria, Australia, Belgium, the state of California, and the Netherlands.
Growth this year is being driven by solar PV, which has benefited from “rapid expansion in the European Union”, a stronger Indian market and an “installation boom” in Vietnam. Growth in the onshore wind sector is also cited as a contributing factor.