wind and solar working together
It seems that global investment in renewable energy systems has dropped by 14% in the last year. In the same period, the electricity produced by the existing devices has been increased, this situation can only mean that last year, renewable devices were more efficient.
2013, was not the only year when these investments have fallen, in the year before we had the same situation.
The main cause for this decrease is the uncertainty that surrounds energy policies of the most important states in the world.
All this negative statistics were not that bad since with the new installed systems, the generation capacity has been increased by 43% and all this green energy production has represented only 8% in the global electricity production.
However, 2013 was a year when renewable energy technologies were developed differently in comparison with the years before, for example offshore wind farms seem to be more preferred now instead of onshore wind farms, and because of this situation the price for construction of these offshore wind farms has been increased.
Other causes of the fall in the last year, were the increased cost of equipment and again policy uncertainty. This last factor is decisive for any company that wants to invest in something for the medium and long-term period. Policy uncertainty is not good for anybody, neither for business neither for economy.
The main fall was felt especially in the cost of the alternative energy resources especially in the solar sector that has left some governments believing that they had paid too much on subsidies.
Germany is a state that resolved the policy issue very quickly and because of this fast solving they massively benefited from all their green energy investors. Other nations instead, have policy issues even today and because of this unpleasant situation, many investors are quite angry and dissatisfied.
While in the past, the renewable sector generated more energy than the demand, and because of this situation many companies had problems to sell that extra energy with interest. Nowadays when costs have dropped and with an improved marketing, many companies work in profit while producing clean energy.
Slowly, the renewable sector is also progressing in countries with developing economies without any help from their governments or any other external subsidies.
In the same year 2013, China managed to install and increase its renewable energy generation capacity up to a level that is higher than the existing production based on fossil-fuels.
A long-term shift in financial investment until the year 2050, investment that can increase the clean energy generation capacity is very important to be fulfilled in order to avoid possible dangerous climate change. If we accomplish the goal to slowly but surely change all our energy generating capacities with renewable resources we have the chance to save the environment because slowly all greenhouse gases will disappear from the atmosphere.
The reality that renewable energy sector is getting a larger share of overall generation worldwide is very motivating and supports the actions to further re-evaluate all the possible investments from this sector. In order to favor possible future investments in this sector we need to improve governance structures and keep rewards active for anybody who wants to make now the step toward a greener future.