Enel Green Power: Renewables: Exponential Growth

Worldwide, green energy sources are growing fast, beating fossil fuels and becoming enabling factors in the circular economy.

Renewable energy continues to grow exponentially worldwide. According to a new report, Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2017 compiled by UNEP, the UN’s environmental programme, new installed capacity of renewable energy increased by 8% in 2016 and the average expenditure of capital per megawatt (for photovoltaic and wind) dropped by more than 10%, while investments were doubled compared to those in fossil fuels.

“Of energy sources worldwide, it was photovoltaic that surpassed, for the first time, the net growth of coal with record prices down to 30 dollars per Megawatt hour in the latest tenders in Latin America.”– Paolo Frankl, Head of Renewable Energy Division for the IEA

And the predictions confirm the trend. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), in the next five years, generation capacity from renewable sources will grow by 43%, equivalent to half of what is currently produced by coal, which, on the other hand, took 80 years to be built. A boom pushed especially by China and India, as well as by the “bargain” prices of green energy.

“China and India are a 4 trillion-dollar opportunity for the energy sector. And to get an idea of how that will impact the gas industry, we predict growth of 8% compared to current consumption but that will replace only about 30% of the coal plants that will close due to the advancement of the renewables.”– Thomas Rowlands-Rees, Senior Analyst for Bloomberg News Energy Finance

This will generate “just” 804 billion dollars in global investments in new generation capacity, which will be needed, however, essentially to stabilise the grids in the face of peaks in demand.

The sustainable energy challenge passes through digitisation

Real decarbonisation will be possible only through the development and introduction of energy from renewable sources and the electrification of consumption. From this perspective, digitization and the advancement of solutions for energy efficiency gain more and more importance, bringing together various industrial sectors and becoming enabling factors of the circular economy: a greater penetration of the electric car, the push toward renewables and the development of electric mobility are the crucial stimuli to guarantee a new model of lasting and sustainable development.

“As the electricity produced is becoming more and more green, its costs goes down, the primary energy source is stabilised and decarbonised. Consequently, renewables become competitive and usable in other sectors: from transport to heating, which become more predictable, less polluting and more affordable.” – Francesco Starace, CEO of Enel

Enel Green Power is playing a role in this sense, as a leader in the renewables sector worldwide, bringing Italian green energy to many countries around the worldEnel Green Power is playing a role in this sense, as a leader in the renewables sector worldwide, bringing Italian green energy to many countries around the world

“We are the first company in the world for megawatts installed: in 2016, we set the record of 2,000 MW installed and this year we’ll exceed 2,500 MW, always following our model of Creating Shared Value wherever we work.”– Antonio Cammisecra – CEO of EGP

Enel Green Power has also taken on a leadership role in the green economy, covering a support role for Italian SMEs that, in some cases, wouldn’t have the strength to expand and affirm their own presence abroad alone.