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Solar and wind power has grown faster than electricity demand this year, report says (apnews.com)

submitted 5 months ago by alyaza@beehaw.org to c/news@beehaw.org

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Worldwide solar and wind power generation has outpaced electricity demand this year, and for the first time on record, renewable energies combined generated more power than coal, according to a new analysis.

Global solar generation grew by a record 31% in the first half of the year, while wind generation grew by 7.7%, according to the report by the energy think tank Ember, which was released after midnight Tuesday London time. Solar and wind generation combined grew by more than 400 terawatt hours, which was more than overall global demand increased in the same period, it found.

The findings suggest it is possible for the world to wean off polluting sources of power — even as demand for electricity skyrockets — with continued investment in renewables including solar, wind, hydropower, bioenergy and geothermal energies.

“That means that they can keep up the pace with growing appetite for electricity worldwide,” said Małgorzata Wiatros-Motyka, senior electricity analyst at Ember and lead author of the study.

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[–] Powderhorn@beehaw.org 6 points 5 months ago

Finally, some hard figures ... 400TWh is nothing to sneeze at.

[–] kbal@fedia.io 2 points 5 months ago

"This is a turning point when we see emissions plateauing."

That's a pretty depressing way to sum it up. It's consistent with what the IEA reported in July:

[coal] demand declined in China and India due to weaker growth in electricity consumption and strong increases in power generation from renewable sources. By contrast, coal use grew by around 10% in the United States as robust growth in electricity demand combined with higher natural gas prices drove up coal consumption for power generation. In the European Union, coal demand was broadly flat, with lower consumption by industry offsetting higher demand from electricity generation.

Despite these short-term variations, the report notes that the underlying structural drivers of the world’s coal use remain broadly unchanged.