The forerunner in renewable energies, the European Union, has been overtaken by China in this last year.
It is evident that the development of renewable energies is advancing worldwide, proof of this is all the news we have every day in RenovablesVerdes.
If we take a quick look through the blog we can see that, of these energies, solar and wind energy are the ones experiencing a marked boom and they are currently in excellent condition to compete with fossil fuels.
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) provide us with various data in which we can see that your costs will keep going down.
adnan amin, Director General of IRENA stated in the presentation of the current report in Abu Dhabi that:
“This new dynamic indicates a significant change in the energy system, for example, the costs of photovoltaic energy by up to about 50 percent on a global average in the next 3 years.
“The decision for renewable energy in the production of electricity is not only ecological, but above all, an intelligent economic decision. Governments around the world recognize this potential and promote energy systems poor in carbon dioxide ”
China assumes Europe's leadership in renewable energy
China thrives enormously on the technologies of the future and is developing more solar and wind power than any other country on the planet.
The economist Professor Claudia Kemfert, specialized in energy, from the German Institute for Economic Research pointed out:
"China takes this leadership as it recognizes the enormous market potential and economic advantages."
According to data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance, China financed around 133 billion dollars in renewable energy in the last year. More than half of this budget went to solar energy.
According to the NEA, China National Energy Administration, photovoltaic plants with a capacity of about 2017 GW were installed in 53 alone, slightly more than half of the world capacity.
Germany, a pioneer until a while ago in terms of solar energy, for the same year only touches 2 GW of capacity.
And it is that, China with its growth policy, has completely replaced Europe as a leader in renewable energies and, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, in 2011 and 2017, those investments have been reduced to less than half, specifically up to 57 million dollars.
Hans-Josef Fell, President of Energy Watch Group stated:
“Until 2011, the EU had a clear leadership role. Due to political failures of his own, he has delivered it.
"A policy was made to protect the economy of atomic energy, coal, oil and natural gas, against renewable energy."
Will Europe regain ground?
The President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker She said:
"I want Europe to be a leader in the fight against climate change."
The Member States, the European Commission and the European Parliament study and debate the possible and necessary measures within the framework of an extensive package of laws under the title: "Clean energy for all Europeans".
Said proposal of the European Commission foresees that the share of renewable energies rises to 27% by 2030, in relation to total energy consumption (currently it is 17%).
The main problem in Europe is as pointed out by Stefan Gsänger, Secretary General of WWEA (World Wind Energy Association), markets stagnate or recede.
“Now in Europe we have the lowest investments for more than a decade. Under these conditions, entrepreneurs obviously cannot invest either in mass or in technological innovations. As a consequence, innovation occurs elsewhere.
If Europe wants to seriously challenge the leadership, then the EU should aspire to at least a target of 50 percent renewable energy in relation to total energy consumption by 2030 ”.
The domination of China
Undoubtedly, for China the expansion of renewable energies is much easier than for Europe because in the first country energy consumption is permanently increased.
julian schorp, from the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Brussels explains:
"There they invest in new capacities, without the need to remove fossil or nuclear capacities from circulation," he explains.
In Europe, on the contrary, there are surplus capacities and energy consumption, according to EU standards, must even go down.
So renewable energies tend to displace other power plants from the market ”.