(Nikkei Asia – March 14, 2023)
Countries accelerated adoption of renewable energy last year, data from the International Energy Agency shows, as the war in Ukraine underscored the advantages of electricity sources that do not rely on imported fuel. Up to 404 gigawatts of new renewable generating capacity was added in 2022, the IEA estimates — roughly 40% more than was added in 2021.
China contributed the largest share of last year’s increase in renewables, adding as much as roughly 180 GW
180 MW is an annual total that exceeds Japan’s entire installed capacity. China has added roughly 460 GW in the three years since 2020. Arguments in favor of renewables had focused on such factors as reducing carbon dioxide emissions. But the invasion of Ukraine raised awareness of energy security by forcing Western nations and Japan to reckon with their reliance on Russian oil and natural gas.
Japan still buys a significant amount of fossil fuels from Russia, even a year after the invasion. Renewables have only recently grown to exceed 20% of Japan’s total electricity supply, and gas and coal continue to predominate. Legislation before the parliament aims to help spur more than 150 trillion yen ($1.12 trillion) in public and private investment in decarbonization over a decade, but details of the plan have yet to be filled in.
The European Union added up to 62 GW in renewable capacity last year as it scrambled to wean itself off Russian fossil fuels. The REPowerEU plan released by the bloc last May aims to accelerate the transition to clean energy with a focus on moving directly to renewables rather than relying on natural gas as a bridge from dirtier coal. The EU generated a larger share of its electricity from wind and solar combined than from gas for the first time last year, at 22% to 20%, according to British think tank Ember. Though coal generation jumped in the immediate aftermath of the invasion, it fell 6% on the year for the last four months of 2022.
European Commission Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans, the body’s climate chief, has called renewables the answer to the security concern created by overdependence on Russia. Skyrocketing electricity costs also spurred a search for alternative energy sources. In the U.K., rooftop solar panel installations in the first half of 2022 alone topped the total for all of 2021, according to industry group Solar Energy UK.
The U.S. added about the same amount of renewable generating capacity last year as in 2021 as its abundance of natural gas insulated it from the war’s impact on fuel supplies. But U.S. installations look set to accelerate this year, with solar alone forecast to jump nearly 30 GW, thanks to government subsidies.
