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News
Bali, 8 December 2007 - “Mainstream” Renewable Energy Continues Double-digit Growth - Best option to mitigate carbon emissions
In less than a decade since the Kyoto Protocol was adopted, renewable energy has evolved rapidly from an ‘alternative’ source of energy to a mainstream energy option, according to the REN21 Renewables Global Status Report 2007.

Compared to a total global power capacity of 4,300 GW, the report finds renewable energy (without large hydro) now provides about 240 Gigawatts (GW) of clean power.

REN21 Renewables 2007 Global Status Report (pre-publication summary)

“What’s needed now are binding targets in an international agreement to establish polices that can rapidly accelerate the large-scale deployment of renewable energy to replace fossil fuels,” said Mohamed El-Ashry, head of the global policy network REN21 that produced the report with the Worldwatch Institute.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which houses the REN21 secretariat, said “Renewable energy can make a significant contribution to de-carbonizing the global economy and its contribution to combating climate change is now really beginning to emerge."

“I call on governments to send market signals that will accelerate the use of renewable energy even further and to also reverse the declines in research and development spending so as to accelerate the commercialization of other renewables waiting in the wings,” he said.

The new report follows two earlier Global Status Reports in 2005 and 2006, and shows that renewable energy sources continue their strong double-digit growth in 2007.

Growth Rates 2006:
Wind: 25-30%
Solar: PV 50-60%
Solar Thermal: 15-20%
Biofuels: 15-20%

  • Wind energy has the largest share of renewable energy investment and continues to grow at 25-30% per year to reach more than 90 GW cumulative capacity in 2007 – 11 times the capacity in 1997.
  • Grid-tied electricity from solar photovoltaic technology (solar PV) continues to grow at 50-60% annual rates, and now accounts for almost 8 GW.
  • Solar hot water systems now provide hot water to more than 50 million households worldwide and 25 million rural households benefit from biogas, small wind power, household solar power, and other technologies.

“With more than 70 countries installing wind power and biomass power generation expanding in more than 40 countries, renewable energy is clearly a global sector”, said El-Ashry, adding “growth is being driven by policies to promote renewable energy, which have mushroomed over the past few years.”

More than 50 countries worldwide have adopted targets for future shares or amounts of renewable energy, including 13 developing countries, all EU countries, and many states/provinces in the US and Canada. At least 56 countries now have some type of renewable energy promotion policy, and 44 countries, states, and provinces have enacted renewable-portfolio-standards requiring future shares of power generation.

Pointing to an earlier report this year by the UNEP Sustainable Energy Finance Initiative (www.sefi.unep.org), El-Ashry said “the $100 billion of global investment in the sector during 2006 is a vote of confidence by investors.”

Virginia Sonntag-O’Brien from UNEP SEFI and REN21 said that as the numbers for renewable energy continue to escalate, there seems to be “a disconnect between the markets and policy makers and negotiators”.

“In terms of options to mitigate carbon emissions, renewable energy is here now, unlike other options. There is no such thing as ‘clean coal’ today, and it is likely to be more than a decade before any advanced technology to capture and store carbon can be widely deployed” she said.

The 2007 Renewables Global Status Report concludes that current trends are set to continue as the costs of renewable energy technologies decline and the sector continues to diversify production and technology development to a broad base of countries, including emerging economies. With more than 2.5 million jobs in the renewable energy industry, and strong rural development benefits, renewable energy is an avenue to economic development, energy security, local environmental benefits, and climate change mitigation.



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3 Feb 2010
Global wind power boom continues despite economic woes
The Global Wind Energy Council today announced that the world’s wind power capacity grew by 31% in 2009, adding 37.5GW to bring total installations up to 157.9GW.

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6 Jan 2010
Renewables Interactive Map published by REN21
The map contains a wealth of information on renewable energy, including support policies, expansion targets, current shares, installed capacity, current production, future scenarios, and policy pledges.

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3 Dec 2009
IRENA and REN21 Side Event at COP15 in Copenhagen
On 15 December, IRENA and REN21 together with IEA, RETD, EREC and Greenpeace will present the leading renewable energy scenarios to show how renewables can help meet CO2 reduction targets and secure affordable energy supply.

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2 Dec 2009
REN21 Steering Committee member was named to head Greece Public Power Corp
Greece named renewable energy expert Arthouros Zervos to head state-controlled Public Power Corp (PPC), the country's biggest electricity provider.

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26 Nov 2009
The Economics of Renewable Energy - True Costs and Value
A one-day experts meeting hosted jointly by IEA and REN21 will take place on November 30th, 2009 in Paris. The purpose of the meeting is to take a close look at alternative approaches to the levelized generation cost methodology and to discuss implications for energy modeling and energy policy. The outcome of the discussion will provide initial guidance for further analysis of the economics of electricity generation, in particular, renewable energy technologies.

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16 Oct 2009
Recommendations for Improving the Effectiveness of Renewable Energy Policies in China
REN21 released its report today with key recommenda-
tions to decision makers in China.

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02 Oct 2009
Pledge submission online
The online submission is now available to all governments and stakeholders with interests in expressing their voluntary actions towards advancing renewable energy deployment and policy development.

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30 Sept 2009
Delhi International Renewable Energy Conference (DIREC) 2010
REN21 will be a key partner to the Indian Government in organising the conference and setting the themes.

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30 Sept 2009
REN21 Ninth Steering Committee Meeting
The ninth meeting of the REN21 Steering Committee took place in New Delhi from 10-11 September 2009.

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