The developed economies are implementing their new energy strategies, which means the extended use of renewable energy sources. Moreover, the developing countries, led by China and India, are to increase their renewable energy production.
The conventional energy production is becoming less profitable with every passing year. The main reason is that the prices for fossil fuels are constantly falling. Beyond that, it is generally accepted that the coal-fired power stations, for instance, are extremely environment-unfriendly.
In this context, the European countries aim to replace traditional power sources with alternative ones: solar, wind, geothermal and biomass sources. The governments offer financial incentives in order to boost the use of renewables.
According to the International Energy Agency, situated in Paris, half of new-built power stations were driven by renewable energy sources. Moreover, the recent data, submitted in its latest report ("Renewable Energy Medium-Term Market Report 2015"), reveals that alternative energy sources will become a major power source during the next five years. The capacity of the renewable-fired power plants is to increase by 700 GW over this period.
It is possible to accomplish on condition that the developing countries fund their alternative energy market. However, it is not that easy, as it seems to be. The main problem in this case refers to the technological issue, which is connected to the national economies of these countries.
The required technologies, which are cheap enough, already exist. Nevertheless, the point is that it is much more burdensome to implement them into the production process. Traditional technologies are embedded in the energy infrastructure. Additionally, there is a number of economies, which depend heavily on conventional energy sources.
It means that the developing countries should transform their energy generating systems in order to involve renewables. In this case, the challenge is that these governments have to bear heavy expenses, which seems to be quite burdensome.
The first surge of renewable sources popularity appeared on the 1970s, when the oil embargo was imposed. Consequently, the extended use of renewables was dictated by the need to replace fossil fuels. Nowadays it is high time to think about the impact of traditional energy sources made on climate.
In this case, both developed and developing countries pledged to reduce their greenhouse gases emissions. India, for instance, which is one of the world biggest carbon emitters, is to have attained 40 per cent growth of renewable energy market by 2030.
Total clean energy supply of the world largest greenhouse gases emitters, among which are Brazil, China, the European Union, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico and the United States, is expected to dramatically rise to 20,000 terawatt hours (TWh) in the nearest future from around 9,000 TWh in 2009.
In addition, the renewable energy market demonstrates exceedingly rapid growth during the quite short period of time. For instance, the share of world energy production, based on alternative power sources, is considered to rise to over 26 per cent by 2020 from 22 per cent in 2013.
These figures reveals that in 2020 the amount of electricity, generated by the renewables-fired power plants, will be higher than today's combined electricity demand of China, India and Brazil.
When it comes to the prices, it is necessary to mention the USA. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory reveals the data, which leads to the conclusion that the price for solar energy in the USA is at the record low at present. Moreover, this power source is the cheapest in the country and is considered to be funded even more.
In this context, Fatih Birol, chairman of the International Energy Agency, underlines that the efficient use of renewables, such as hydro, solar and wind resources, will make it possible to contribute to development of the world poorest countries, situated in sub-Saharan Africa.
The low prices for renewables will enable these countries to develop their energy infrastructure and provide consumers with cheap and accessible electricity. It will also be possible to create new jobs.
Dr. Birol is convinced that the governments should by all means be consistent with their new energy strategies in order to provide the sustainable development of their renewable energy markets. It is the only possible way to address the climate issue. Though it is exceedingly expensive to transform the coal-fired power plants and involve alternative energy sources, such policy will produce positive results in the nearest future.
