Global investment in new capacity for renewable energy is on course to reach $2.6 trillion by the end of this decade, more than triple the amount of the previous decade, with more gigawatts of solar power capacity installed than any other generation technology, according to new figures published by the UN Environment Programme.

 

According to the Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2019 report, released ahead of the UN Global Climate Action Summit, this investment is set to have roughly quadrupled renewable energy capacity (excluding large hydro) from 414 GW at the end of 2009 to just over 1,650 GW when the decade closes at the end of this year.

 

Solar power will have drawn half - $1.3 trillion - of the $2.6 trillion in renewable energy capacity investments made over the decade. 

 

Solar alone will have grown from 25 GW at the beginning of 2010 to an expected 663 GW by the close of 2019 - enough to produce all the electricity needed each year by about 100 million average homes in the US.

 

The global share of electricity generation accounted for by renewables reached 12.9 per cent, in 2018, up from 11.6 per cent in 2017. This avoided an estimated 2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions last year alone - a substantial saving given global power sector emissions of 13.7 billion tonnes in 2018.

 

Including all major generating technologies (fossil and zero-carbon), the decade is set to see a net 2,366 GW of power capacity installed, with solar accounting for the largest single share (638 GW), coal second (529 GW), and wind and gas in third and fourth places (487 GW and 438 GW respectively).

 

The cost-competitiveness of renewables has also risen dramatically over the decade. The levelized cost of electricity (a measure that allows comparison of different methods of electricity generation on a consistent basis) is down 81 per cent for solar photovoltaics since 2009; that for onshore wind is down 46 per cent.

 

“Investing in renewable energy is investing in a sustainable and profitable future, as the last decade of incredible growth in renewables has shown,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme.

 

“But we cannot afford to be complacent. Global power sector emissions have risen about 10 per cent over this period. It is clear that we need to rapidly step up the pace of the global switch to renewables if we are to meet international climate and development goals.”

 

The report, released annually since 2007, also continued its traditional look at yearly figures, with global investment in renewables capacity hitting $272.9 billion in 2018.

 

While this was 12 per cent down over the previous year, 2018 was the ninth successive year in which capacity investment exceeded $200 billion and the fifth successive year above $250 billion. It was also was about three times the global investment in coal and gas-fired generation capacity combined.

 

The 2018 figure was achieved despite continuing falls in the capital cost of solar and wind projects, and despite a policy change that hit investment in China in the second half of the year.

 

A record 167 GW of new renewable energy capacity was completed in 2018, up from 160 GW in 2017.

 

Jon Moore, chief executive of BloombergNEF (BNEF), the research company that provides the data and analysis for the Global Trends report, said: “Sharp falls in the cost of electricity from wind and solar over recent years have transformed the choice facing policy-makers. These technologies were always low-carbon and relatively quick to build. Now, in many countries around the world, either wind or solar is the cheapest option for electricity generation.”

 

The report also tracks other, non-capacity investment in renewables — money going into technology and specialist companies. All of these types of investment showed increases in 2018. 

 

Government and corporate research and development was up 10 per cent at $13.1 billion, while equity raised by renewable energy companies on public markets was 6 per cent higher at $6 billion, and venture capital and private equity investment was up 35 per cent at $2 billion.