The global energy crisis and supply security concerns that rose after Russia's invasion of Ukraine have spurred an acceleration of the rollout of renewable power, raising hopes for efforts to meet ambitious targets against global warming, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Tuesday.
Total renewables capacity worldwide is set to almost double in the next five years and overtake coal as the largest source of electricity generation by 2025, the IEA said in a report.
In its annual report on the outlook for renewables, the IEA stated that capacity worldwide is expected to grow by 2,400 gigawatts (GW) – equal to the entire power capacity of China today – to 5,640 GW by 2027.
The possible growth between 2022-2027 is higher by almost 30% when compared to last year's forecast by the IEA, the Paris-based agency, which advises developed nations.
High gas and power prices from a global energy crisis this year have made renewable power technologies more attractive.
And the growth in renewables capacity would help "keep alive the possibility of limiting global warming to 1.5 (degrees Celsius)," the IEA said, referring to the preferable target set in the 2015 Paris Agreement to prevent a climate catastrophe.
Growth in renewables is also being driven by the United States, China and India implementing policies and market reforms to support renewables deployment more quickly than previously planned.
"Renewables were already expanding quickly, but the global energy crisis has kicked them into an extraordinary new phase of even faster growth as countries seek to capitalize on their energy security benefits," said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.
"The world is set to add as much renewable power in the next five years as it did in the previous 20 years," he added.
The report said renewables are set to account for over 90% of global electricity expansion over the next five years, overtaking coal to become the largest source of global electricity by early 2025.
European Union nations could deploy wind and solar power even faster if they were to quickly streamline the process for receiving permits, while China is expected to account for almost half of new global renewable power capacity additions in the next five years, the report said.
Global solar photovoltaic capacity is set to almost triple by 2027, becoming the largest source of power capacity in the world, and the demand for biofuels is set to increase by 22% by 2027, the IEA's report stated.