A review of the clean energy market for 2019 says renewable energy will march forward this year, due to “remorseless reductions in the costs of solar and wind electricity and of lithium-ion batteries”.
Angus McCrone, the chief editor of Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) made the prediction in a commentary in which BNEF laid out 10 bold predictions for the global clean energy market for 2019.
Clean energy will also make huge strides because of the “widening realisation on the part of investors and corporations that there is this ‘sustainability thing’ and, for reasons of self-interest, they just need to do it,” Mr McCrone added.
BNEF sees total clean energy investment hovering at around US$300 billion, down from 2018’s US$332.1 bn.
However, while investment totals will be down this year, as costs continue to fall, every dollar invested brings more renewable energy capacity.
The same will be true in 2019 and BNEF predicts that the world will add between 125 and 141 gigawatts (GW) of new solar this year, sharply up from the 109GW added in 2018.
For wind, BNEF sees capacity additions of 70GW in 2019, up from 53.5GW last year.
One notable development is the rise of offshore wind.
It will still remain a fraction of the wind installation total, but “eye-catching price drops” will make it a “must-have” technology this year, BNEF analysts argue.
Europe is set to install 4.9GW of offshore wind, with Asia installing 3.5GW and both are new record highs.
BNEF said this will be the last year that Europe leads in offshore wind, and from here on Asia will take over as the global leader.
Energy storage hits a milestone in 2019 as well, adding 10GWh of new capacity for the first time.
China will “establish a truly global presence” in the energy storage market, with carmakers increasingly seeking out the Chinese suppliers.
Average battery prices could fall below US$150/kWh this year, down from US$176/kWh last year, which itself was a record low.
At the same time the sales of electric vehicles (EV) will jump by 40 per cent this year and BNEF expects the world to add 2.6 million EVs to the roadways in 2019.
The 40 per cent growth rate is down from the 70 per cent expansion in 2018, but sales are growing from a larger base of about five million vehicles.
Unsurprisingly, China leads, accounting for about 57 per cent of the global market.
The next few years should be exciting for the EV market, with carmakers around the world set to unveil dozens of new models.
Renewable energy is growing by leaps and bounds, but natural gas also continues to gain ground at the expense of coal, particularly in the United States.
Overall, BNEF laid out a very optimistic year for clean energy, one characterised by falling costs and further inroads into a variety of markets.
