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Led by new solar power, the world added renewable energy at breakneck speed in 2023, a trend that if amplified, should help Earth turn away from fossil fuels and prevent severe warming and its effects.
Clean energy is now the cheapest, which explains why this growth is happening. Countries have also pursued policies that support renewable energy, with some raising concerns about electricity security, according to the International Energy Agency. These points have offset high interest rates. and constant difficulties in getting fabrics and stitches in many places.
The IEA projects that more than 440 gigawatts of renewable energy will be added by 2023, more than the entire electric power capacity of Germany and Spain combined.
Here’s a look back at the year in solar, wind and battery power.
China, Europe and the United States all set records for solar installations in a single year, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.
China’s additions dwarfed those of all other countries, between 180 and 230 gigawatts, depending on the final results of year-end projects. Europe added 58 gigawatts.
Solar energy is now the cheapest form of electricity in most countries. Solar panel costs fell by 40% to 53% in Europe between December 2022 and November 2023 and are now at record levels.
“Particularly in Europe, the expansion of deployment has been rapid,” said Michael Taylor, senior analyst at IRENA.
When the final numbers for 2023 are in, solar energy is expected to surpass hydropower in total capacity globally, but for actual electricity produced, hydropower will still make more clean power for some time because it can produce around the clock.
In the United States, California continues to have the most solar energy, followed by Texas, Florida, North Carolina, and Arizona.
Both state and federal incentives had a large influence on US solar growth, said Daniel Bresette, president of the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, a nonprofit education and policy organization.
Despite the good luck of solar in 2023, there are obstacles. There have been processor shortages, Bresette said, while interest rates have risen.
In the US, solar manufacturing grew as well. “We have seen the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act in terms of fueling investments … more than 60 solar manufacturing facilities were announced over the past year,” said Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association.
By the end of 2023, the world will have added enough wind energy to power nearly 80 million homes, making it a record year.
As with solar, most of the growth, or more than 58 gigawatts, was added in China, according to research from Wood Mackenzie. China is on track to surpass its ambitious 2030 target of 1,200 gigawatts of utility-scale solar and wind power capacity five years ahead of schedule if planned projects are all built, the Global Energy Monitor said.
China was one of the few growing markets this year for wind, the Global Wind Energy Council said. Faster permitting and other improvements in key markets such as Germany and India also helped add more wind energy. But installations were down in Europe by 6% year-over-year, Wood Mackenzie said.
Short-term challenges such as high inflation, rising interest rates, and increased costs of building materials forced some ocean wind developers to renegotiate or even cancel project contracts, and some land-based wind developers had to delay projects to 2024 or 2025.
The economic headwinds came at a difficult time for the nascent U. S. offshore wind industry as it tries to launch the country’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farms.
Construction on two of them began this year. Both aim to open in early 2024 and one of the sites is already sending electric power to the U. S. grid. Large offshore wind farms have been generating electricity for 3 decades in Europe and more recently in Asia. .
After years of record growth, industry organization American Clean Power expects less onshore wind power to be added to the U. S. through the end of the year, enough to build between 2. 7 million and 3 million homes. The organization says developers are taking advantage of the new tax. credits approved last year from the Inflation Reduction Law, but it takes years to put the projects online.
Since the ERI was approved, $383 billion worth of investments in blank energy have been announced, he said.
“We’re talking about 2023 as a year of underperformance, but overall, 8-9 gigawatts is still a number to be excited about. It’s a lot of blank new energy being added to the grid,” he said. John Hensley, director of ACP. Vice President of Research and Analysis.
Globally, wind power has also been slower this year. The three most sensible markets this year remain China, the United States and Germany for onshore wind, and China, the United Kingdom and Germany for marine energy.
The analysts are predicting that the global industry will rebound next year and make nearly 12% more wind energy available worldwide.
In June, the industry celebrated surpassing the terawatt of installed wind power worldwide. It took more than 40 years to achieve this milestone, but it may take less than seven years for the second terawatt, at the industry’s current pace.
Amid ongoing efforts to make shipping less climate-damaging, the trend toward electric cars has accelerated globally in 2023, with one in five cars sold this year expected to be electric, according to the International Energy Agency.
This also means that this year has turned out to be a record year for batteries.
More than $43. 4 billion has been spent on battery production and recycling in the U. S. alone, thanks in large part to the Inflation Reduction Act, according to Atlas Public Policy. This puts the U. S. on par with Europe, but it’s still China, the world’s battery powerhouse.
As for giant battery factories, called gigafactories, the U. S. and Europe had 38 in the works at the end of November, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.
But China had 295 in the pipeline.
The industry has continued to explore other tactics for making batteries that rely too heavily on destructive materials, as well as tactics to make parts more durable, and the battery recycling industry has progressed, according to experts.
The price of the key raw material for batteries, lithium, has also fallen significantly, said Evan Hartley, senior analyst at Benchmark.
“Battery charging is now on a trajectory where as many Americans as possible will be able to purchase an electric vehicle,” said Paul Braun, a professor of tissue science and engineering at the University of Illinois.
2023 has not been an easy journey. U. S. industry, in particular, has faced several obstacles. A huge Panasonic battery factory in Kansas is facing power problems. Toyota wants to build a skill pool for its North Carolina site. Health and safety violations were discovered at a plant in a joint venture between General Motors Co. and LG Energy Solution in Ohio. La list goes on.
Regardless of the region, barriers persist in mineral spaces, culprit chains, and the structure of loading infrastructure. “That’s going to be the next item on the agenda,” said John Eichberger, executive director of the Transportation Energy Institute.
But experts are optimistic about the continued expansion of batteries around the world.
“The story of batteries in the United States in general is the story of batteries globally in 2023,” said Daan Walter, director of the strategy team at the Rocky Mountain Institute, a sustainability group, “and how consequential this change will be. in 2023″. has been. “
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