How Growth In Renewable Energy Will Affect Petroleum And Gas Markets

According to a recent report from the International Energy Agency, renewable energy is growing at a rate that is greater than anticipated. The IEA believe that renewable energy that generates electricity could grow at 50% over the next 5-years a news projects that are related to solar energy are accelerating. The expansion of renewable electricity in the form of solar power, wind and hydropower, will reduce the need to generate electricity from fuel oil and natural gas.

International Energy Agency Projections

The International Energy predicts in a new report that by 2024 inexpensive solar power could see the world’s solar capacity grow by 600GW. The International Energy Agency is a Paris based watch dog that reports on global energy supply and demand. Overall, renewable electricity is expected to grow by 1,200GW in the next five years. This rising interest in cost effective renewable energy could generate demand destruction for electricity that is driven by petroleum.

Currently, renewable energy generates 26% of the world’s electricity and according to the IEA its share is expected to reach 30% by 2024. Growth in the renewable energy sector is being driven by growing climate ambitions in the European Union and the US but China will lead the world in rolling out wind and solar energy projects.

One of the drivers of increased demand for renewable energy is cost. The IEA now expects that the cost of solar power will decline by approximately 15% to 35% by 2024.  This will drive companies to invest in renewable energy rather than allocating resources to invest in oil. The IEA believes that business and factors in the developed world will drive the process of converting their energy sources to solar as falling costs buoy their bottom line.

How is Renewable Energy Helping?

International Energy Agency is also saying that global CO2 emissions remained unchanged in 2019 at 33 gigatonnes following two years of increases. The halt to the acceleration in CO2 emissions according to the IEA is due to the growth of renewable wind and solar energy sources. The viability of renewable energy is persuading nations to switch from coal and petroleum to other sources. The report from the International Energy Agency states that the biggest drop in CO2 emissions were seen in the developed world, with the U.S. having cut the most CO2. In the EU, Germany reported the largest decline in emissions, according to the IEA. The emerging countries, saw an increase in CO2 emissions of 400 Mt, of which 80% occurred in Asia. Despite the rise in CO2 emission in Asia, there is continued interest in building solar power in India.

Recently, oil giant Total announced that the company is expanding its partnership with Adani Group, India’s largest privately-owned energy and infrastructure conglomerate to operate Adani Green Energy/Total. Adani will transfer its solar assets currently in operation to a new joint-venture between subsidiary Adani Green Energy and Total.

Bottom Line

The key takeaway is that there is the belief that the cost of solar energy will decline further over the next 5-years sparking an expansion of solar powered renewable energy. Solar energy costs have been prohibitive until recently requiring government subsidies to make the energy viable. The growth in this sector will be more commercial than residential according to energy watchdog IEA. The expansion of solar energy to generate electricity will reduce the demand for coal, petroleum and natural gas as sources that run turbines to generate electromagnetic energy.