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					</table><p>Hybrid power projects are emerging as key players in Türkiye&#8217;s pursuit of solar energy goals because of their capability to generate electricity from both primary and secondary sources connected to the grid at the same location, an energy think tank, <a href="https://ember-climate.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ember</a>, reported.</p>
<p>The implementation of hybrid power projects and the conversion of existing power projects to hybrids where solar is the secondary source became possible in Türkiye through a regulatory amendment in 2020.</p>
<p>As of the end of 2023, solar was the secondary source for all 240 operational and planned hybrid power projects in Türkiye.</p>
<p>The strategic integration of solar power provides additional electricity generation, optimizing infrastructure costs by connecting to the grid from the same point as the primary source.</p>
<p>According to the report, hybrid solar power projects can help Türkiye achieve its clean energy targets by allowing solar potential to be utilized together with other renewable generation.</p>
<p>The report delves into the installed capacity, project pipeline, and allocated grid capacity of hybrid solar power projects in Türkiye as of the end of 2023.</p>
<p><strong>Solar Capacity Surpasses Wind</strong></p>
<p>Officially reported installed capacity statistics indicate Türkiye&#8217;s solar capacity reaching 11.7 GW and wind capacity at 11.8 GW by the end of 2023. However, these figures exclude the secondary solar capacity installed in hybrid power projects.</p>
<p>According to the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (<a href="https://erranet.org/member/emra-turkiye/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">EMRA</a>), Türkiye has incorporated 510 MW of secondary solar capacity as of 2024, propelling total solar capacity to surpass wind at 12.2 GW.</p>
<p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-63736" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Ember-report-on-Turkey-Hybrid-Solar.png" alt="Ember report on Turkey Hybrid Solar" width="600" height="375" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Ember-report-on-Turkey-Hybrid-Solar.png 748w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Ember-report-on-Turkey-Hybrid-Solar-300x187.png 300w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Ember-report-on-Turkey-Hybrid-Solar-650x406.png 650w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Ember-report-on-Turkey-Hybrid-Solar-624x390.png 624w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Ember-report-on-Turkey-Hybrid-Solar-600x375.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></p>
<p>Ember states that the absence of hybrid capacity in official statistics undermines the accuracy of analysis and planning. Constituting 4.2% of total installed solar capacity, the inclusion of hybrid solar capacity in official statistics is crucial for a more comprehensive understanding of Türkiye’s renewable energy landscape.</p>
<p>Hybrid solar capacity predominantly integrates with wind power installations, with 63% of the secondary solar capacity installed in 14 projects where wind serves as the primary source.</p>
<p>The synergy between solar and wind, characterized by their inverse hourly generation patterns, allows for a more stable generation profile in wind-solar hybrid power projects.</p>
<p>While hydro comes second after wind with 80 MW of secondary installed solar capacity, all of this capacity is concentrated in the Aşağı Kaleköy Hydroelectric Power Project (HEPP), the sole hydro-solar hybrid project in Türkiye.</p>
<p><strong>Regional Concentration and Hybrid Solar Generation</strong></p>
<p>Hybrid power projects are distributed across 28 provinces in Türkiye, with significant capacity concentrated in specific regions.</p>
<p>Provinces such as Uşak, Bingöl, and Sivas host the highest hybrid solar capacity, accounting for 42% of the total installed capacity. Furthermore, Konya and Karaman, featuring both wind and high solar potential, contribute an additional 15% to the overall capacity.</p>
<p>The estimated annual generation of hybrid solar power projects, considering installed capacity and solar potential, is close to 800 GWh. This represents 4.2% of Türkiye’s total solar energy production in 2023.</p>
<p>The report noted that despite regulatory amendments in October 2023, which require reporting electricity generation from secondary sources and distinguishing solar and wind capacities at the regional level, challenges persist.</p>
<p>Hybrid solar generation data remains included as part of the primary source in official data before November 2023, impacting the accuracy of past generation records.</p>
<p>According to the report, despite the challenges, Türkiye&#8217;s hybrid solar capacity holds promise. With permitting processes completed for a capacity four times the current installed capacity, there is 1.9 GW of approved hybrid solar capacity yet to be installed, equivalent to 16% of all installed solar capacity in the country.</p>
<p><strong>Floating Solar as a Catalyst for Hybrid Capacity Development</strong></p>
<p>Exploring the potential of floating solar, Türkiye currently has 80 GW of untapped capacity. Despite this, no floating solar projects have been integrated into hybrid power projects, except for the Aşağı Kaleköy HEPP with ground-mounted solar modules.</p>
<p>Türkiye took a significant step towards utilizing floating solar potential through a bill submitted in January that allowed floating solar installations on dammed hydro reservoirs.</p>
<p>The bill paved the way for the designation of renewable energy resource areas on power project reservoirs, enabling floating solar tenders alongside the installation of secondary solar capacity on water surfaces at hybrid power plants.</p>
<p><strong>Transparent and Comprehensive Energy Strategy</strong></p>
<p>While Türkiye has made strides in incorporating hybrid power projects into its energy landscape, challenges persist, including the need for transparent capacity allocation processes and comprehensive planning.</p>
<p>A regulatory amendment in October 2023 addressing solar and wind capacities at the regional level was a positive step.</p>
<p>Ember stated that for Türkiye to reach its 53 GW solar capacity target by 2035, a holistic energy strategy that considers the role of hybrid power projects and floating solar power and anticipates their installations is crucial.</p>
<p>The journey to unlock Türkiye&#8217;s solar potential continues, with hybrid power projects poised to be instrumental in achieving the nation&#8217;s renewable energy ambitions.</p>
<p>In an earlier webinar <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/insurance-prominence-wind-solar-hybrid-projects-centerstage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hosted</a> by Mercom India, industry experts discussed how wind-solar hybrid projects are a practical solution to tackle the intermittency issues of standalone wind and solar energy sources and are poised to play a critical role as a generation source going forward.</p>
<p>Mercom earlier <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/top-developments-wind-hybrid-market-2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> the top developments that influenced the wind and hybrid power market in India during 2023.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Gautamee Hazarika</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Picture1.jpg" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Gautamee,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Gautamee.</a><br />
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<a href="gautamee@mercomindia.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gautamee@mercomindia.com</a></p>
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<div class="authorboxn"><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Picture1.jpg" width="102" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" rel="noopener">Gautamee</a> is a reporter at Mercom India. Prior to Mercom, Gautamee was working as a multimedia news journalist at ThePrint in New Delhi. She has received her Bachelors in English Honors and Masters in English Literature from St.Stephen&#8217;s College, University of Delhi.<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" rel="noopener">More articles from Gautamee</a></div>
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Türkiye’s Hybrid Projects Help Solar Surpass Wind Capacity with 11.7 GW


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					</table><p>Solar and wind energy comprised 12% of the electricity generated globally in 2022, leading to a record low carbon intensity of 436 gCO2/kWh, according to independent think tank <a href="https://ember-climate.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ember</a>.</p>
<p>The growth in wind and solar generation (~557 TWh) alone met 80% of global electricity demand growth in 2022 (~694 TWh).</p>
<p>All clean energy sources, including renewables and nuclear, comprised 39% of global electricity.</p>
<p>Solar and wind generation grew by 24% and 17%, respectively. Over 60 countries generated more than 10% of their electricity from wind and solar.</p>
<p>However, other clean electricity sources dropped for the first time since 2011 due to a fall in nuclear output and fewer new nuclear and hydropower projects coming online.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Ember-report.png"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-52599 size-full" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Ember-report.png" alt="Ember report" width="700" height="456" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Ember-report.png 700w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Ember-report-300x195.png 300w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Ember-report-650x423.png 650w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Ember-report-624x406.png 624w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Ember-report-600x391.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" /></a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Emissions drop</strong></p>
<p>Wind and solar power are helping to slow the rise in power sector emissions, with the growth in these sources meeting 80% of global electricity demand growth in 2022. If all electricity from wind and solar came from fossil fuels, emissions would have been 20% higher.</p>
<p>Clean power growth is predicted to surpass electricity demand growth in 2023, with a small fall in fossil generation (-47 TWh or -0.3%). As wind and solar power expand, subsequent years are expected to see larger declines in fossil generation.</p>
<p>Power sector emissions hit a new high due to increased electricity demand in 2022, with coal generation up by 1.1%. Gas power generation fell marginally (-0.2%) in 2022–for the second time in three years– in the wake of high gas prices globally. Gas-to-coal switching was limited in 2022 because gas was already mostly more expensive than coal in 2021.</p>
<p>Only 31 GW of new gas power plants were built, the lowest in 18 years, while coal plant closures decreased as countries sought to maintain backup capacity during the energy transition.</p>
<p>However, 2022 saw the lowest number of coal plant closures in seven years as countries look to maintain backup capacity, even as the transition speeds up.</p>
<p>Last October, the International Energy Agency (IEA) had forecast that global CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion would <a href="https://mercomindia.com/co2-emissions-from-fossil-drop-due-to-of-renewables-iea/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">grow</a> by just under 1% this year as the strong expansion of renewables and electric vehicles will prevent a sharper rise.</p>
<p>IEA also <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/renewables-account-global-power-capacity-iea" target="_blank" rel="noopener">estimated</a> that renewable energy would account for 90% of the global power capacity increase in 2022. The report predicted that around 280 GW of new renewable energy capacity will be operational in 2022.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Arjun Joshi</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Arjun-Joshi-1.png" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Arjun Joshi,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Arjun Joshi.</a></p>
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<p><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Arjun-Joshi-1.png" width="86" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong style="color: #00b451">Arjun Joshi</strong> </a>is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Before joining Mercom, he worked as a technical writer for enterprise resource software companies based in India and abroad. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism, Psychology, and Optional English from Garden City University, Bangalore. <a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Arjun Joshi.</a></p>
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Wind, Solar Produce a Record 12% of Global Power Generation in 2022

<p>According to the latest report published by the energy think tank <a href="https://ember-climate.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ember</a> and <a href="https://climateriskhorizons.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Climate Risk Horizons</a>, 27 GW of proposed new coal power plants in India could deplete scarce public resources, lock consumers onto high electricity prices and threaten India&#8217;s renewable energy ambitions.</p>
<p><a href="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Picture1-2.jpg"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-28889" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Picture1-2.jpg" alt="" width="524" height="704" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Picture1-2.jpg 524w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Picture1-2-223x300.jpg 223w" sizes="(max-width: 524px) 100vw, 524px" /></a></p>
<p>The report suggests that India does not require additional coal capacity to meet its power demand growth by FY 2030. Surplus coal plants can be scrapped without sacrificing the power infrastructure&#8217;s ability to meet future demand.</p>
<p>The report further states that India can free up ₹2.47 trillion (~$33.50 billion) in capital expenditure and save ₹432.19 billion (~$5.83 billion) annually by investing in renewable energy and storage instead of coal projects.</p>
<p>India&#8217;s total installed power capacity currently stands at 387 GW, with 209 GW hard coal and lignite, 94 GW other firm capacities such as gas, diesel, large hydro, nuclear, bio-power, small hydro, and 84 GW of wind and solar combined.</p>
<p>If India retires coal plants older than 25 years, then roughly 54 GW of coal-powered plants will close by FY 2030. If the 33 GW currently under construction are completed on schedule and no other new coal plants are built, India&#8217;s coal power capacity will be 188 GW by FY 2030.</p>
<p>&#8220;The 27 GW of new coal being proposed at an investment value of ₹2.47 trillion (~$33.50 billion) represent a significant threat to the Indian economy, not just in terms of misallocation of scarce capital, but also due to the lock-in effect of expensive electricity and ancillary impacts on the renewable energy industry. This must be avoided, especially as the Indian financial sector is yet to recover from the non-performing asset crisis created by excessive coal construction in the last decade,&#8221; said Ashish Fernandes, CEO, Climate Risk Horizons.</p>
<p>According to the Central Electricity Authority&#8217;s (CEA) forecast in the <a href="https://cea.nic.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/nep_jan_2018.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">13th National Electricity Plan (NEP13</a>), India&#8217;s electricity demand in FY 2022 is expected to reach 1,566 TWh, which implies that the required power demand will grow by 5% every year from financial year (FY) 2017 to FY 2022.</p>
<p>India did witness this growth rate in FY 2018 and 2019. However, the rate rose by only 1% in FY 2020 due to a broader economic slowdown, ultimately falling by 0.5% in FY 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
<p>This year, India&#8217;s electricity demand would have to rise by 13% to meet the NEP13 forecast.</p>
<p>India needs to add about 39 GW of new renewable energy annually to reach the 450 GW target by FY 2030, from the current target of <a href="https://mercomindia.com/renewable-energy-installations-india/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">100 GW</a>. Although the current build rate is falling short, things are looking positive as commitments made by ten different power generators in India now add up to 301 GW, the report said.</p>
<p><a href="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Picture2-2.png"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-28890" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Picture2-2.png" alt="" width="602" height="382" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Picture2-2.png 602w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Picture2-2-300x190.png 300w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Picture2-2-600x381.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 602px) 100vw, 602px" /></a></p>
<p>According to the report, even if India&#8217;s power demand grows 5% annually, coal-fired generation in FY 2030 will be lower than in FY 2020 as long as India achieves its non-coal generation targets. Essentially, more coal capacity beyond what&#8217;s already under construction isn&#8217;t needed to meet the aggregate demand growth by FY 2030.</p>
<p>The report argues that a 5% annual growth in power demand up to FY 2030 would result in a demand of 2,144 TWh in FY 2030, up from 1,381 TWh in FY 2021. Coal-fired generation in FY 2030 would be 984 TWh, 10 TWh less than in FY 2020; so, the power demand growth by FY 2030 can come from renewable energy and non-coal generation.</p>
<p>Assuming India also delivers on the non-coal capacity targets for FY 2030, other firm capacities will increase to 157 GW, including battery storage, while wind and solar will add up to 420 GW.</p>
<p>By FY 2030, India will have about 346 GW of &#8220;firm&#8221; power capacity in addition to 420 GW of variable renewable energy to meet an estimated peak demand of 301 GW. India can meet peak demand in FY 2030 even if it retires its old coal plants and stops building new coal beyond those under construction.</p>
<p>A recent <a href="https://ember-climate.org/project/global-electricity-review-h1-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> published by Ember has revealed that global power sector emissions have increased above pre-pandemic levels due to a rise in electricity demand. The increased demand was mostly met by wind and solar power (57%) and by an increase in emissions-intensive coal power (43%) that caused the rise in CO2 emissions.</p>
<p>The Ember report comes in the wake of a recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which <a href="https://mercomindia.com/rapid-cuts-in-ghg-emissions-needed/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">warned</a> that time is running out for the world to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Arjun Joshi</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Arjun-Joshi-1.png" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Arjun Joshi,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Arjun Joshi.</a></p>
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<p><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Arjun-Joshi-1.png" width="86" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong style="color: #00b451">Arjun Joshi</strong> </a>is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Before joining Mercom, he worked as a technical writer for enterprise resource software companies based in India and abroad. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism, Psychology, and Optional English from Garden City University, Bangalore. <a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Arjun Joshi.</a></p>
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New Coal Plants to Exhaust ₹2.47 Trillion, Investing in Renewables Can Save ₹432 Billion

<p>A new <a href="https://ember-climate.org/project/global-electricity-review-h1-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> published by energy think tank <a href="https://ember-climate.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ember</a> has revealed that global power sector emissions have increased above pre-pandemic levels.</p>
<p>Global power sector emissions rebounded in the first half (1H) of 2021, increasing 12% from the lows seen in 1H-2020 when Covid-19 lockdowns went into effect. The emissions are now 5% above the pre-pandemic levels of 1H-2019, while electricity demand also rose 5%.</p>
<p>The increased global electricity demand was mostly met by wind and solar power (57%) but also by an increase in emissions-intensive coal power (43%) that caused the rise in CO2 emissions.</p>
<p>The Ember report comes in the wake of a recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which <a href="https://mercomindia.com/rapid-cuts-in-ghg-emissions-needed/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">warned</a> that time is running out for the world to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.</p>
<p>The report compares the first six months of 2021 to the same period in 2019 to show for the first time how the electricity transition has changed as the world rebounds from the impact of the pandemic in 2020. For the first time, wind and solar generated over a tenth of global electricity and overtook nuclear generation.</p>
<p><a href="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Picture6.png"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-28519" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Picture6.png" alt="" width="602" height="358" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Picture6.png 602w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Picture6-300x178.png 300w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Picture6-600x357.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 602px) 100vw, 602px" /></a></p>
<p>In India, things looked better as the continued impact of the pandemic in 1H-2021 kept electricity demand muted and coal rise minimal. Electricity demand in 1H-2021 was only 3% higher than 1H 2019 levels. This is one of the lowest increases in developing Asia as pandemic restrictions continued. Almost 72% of India&#8217;s increase in demand was met by growth in solar and wind, which rose by 47% and 9%, respectively.</p>
<p>On the negative side, however, coal generation increased by 4% to fill the remaining gap in demand and reduce hydroelectricity generation.</p>
<p>&#8220;Catapulting emissions in 2021 should send alarm bells across the world. We are not building back better; we are building back badly,&#8221; said Dave Jones, Global Programme Lead, Ember. &#8220;A super-fast electricity transition this decade is critical to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees. The electricity transition is happening but with little urgency: emissions are going in the wrong direction.&#8221;</p>
<p>Much of the rise in emissions resulted from massively increased demand in developing countries, particularly in Asia. In China, electricity demand rose by 14% from 1H-2019 to 1H-2021 and is approaching EU per capita levels. Only 29% of that rise in demand was met by wind and solar, while over two-thirds (68%) was met by coal power. Coal power increased by 337 TWh, more coal generation than was used by the whole of the EU in 1H-2021. China&#8217;s share of global coal generation rose from 50% before the pandemic to 53%.</p>
<p>&#8220;Developing Asia must focus its attention on meeting all demand growth with new zero-carbon electricity as a first initial step of the region&#8217;s journey towards 100% clean electricity before mid-century,&#8221; said Dr. Muyi Yang, Senior Analyst &#8211; Asia, Ember. &#8220;Developing Asia can leapfrog fossils and move straight to cheap, clean renewables. But this is contingent on whether the region can further accelerate its inexorable march of clean electricity. At the same time, use electricity more efficiently.&#8221;</p>
<p>Despite having pledged to propel their economies into a new green normal, most countries are yet to achieve a truly green recovery for their power sector. Although Norway and Russia appear in the &#8216;green recovery&#8217; quadrant, this is due to temporary factors rather than a significant structural improvement in their electricity sector.</p>
<p>Many countries had a &#8216;grey recovery,&#8217; with high electricity demand growth, which was met in part with wind and solar but also extra coal generation, leading to higher power sector CO2 emissions. Some of the &#8216;grey recovery&#8217; countries are Mongolia, China, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, and India.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, the UN Environment Program <a href="https://mercomindia.com/investing-climate-economic-un-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released</a> a report that said nations must boost their efforts to adapt to the changing climate scenario to avoid dire consequences in the future.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Arjun Joshi</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Arjun-Joshi-1.png" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Arjun Joshi,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Arjun Joshi.</a></p>
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<p><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Arjun-Joshi-1.png" width="86" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong style="color: #00b451">Arjun Joshi</strong> </a>is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Before joining Mercom, he worked as a technical writer for enterprise resource software companies based in India and abroad. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism, Psychology, and Optional English from Garden City University, Bangalore. <a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Arjun Joshi.</a></p>
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Global Power Sector Emissions Rise 5% Above Pre-Covid Levels: Report

<p>The strong growth in wind and solar power capacity additions in 2020, despite the pandemic, resulted in a record fall in coal power globally, according to the climate and energy think tank <a href="https://ember-climate.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ember</a>. Ember has released a report, Global Electricity Review 2021, which gives an account of the electricity data from around the world.</p>
<p><strong>Wind and Solar Give Tough Competition to Coal</strong></p>
<p>The report revealed that almost a tenth of global electricity was generated by wind and solar in 2020, showing a robust increase of 15% (+314 TWh) compared to what they accounted for in 2019. The two green power modes doubled their presence globally in the last five years.</p>
<p>Wind and solar produced 9.4% of the world’s electricity in 2020. Its share has more than doubled from 4.6% in 2015 when the Paris Climate Agreement was signed.</p>
<p>Over the last five years, wind and solar power’s combined market share increased by 4.8 percentage points (from 4.6% to 9.4%), and coal’s market share fell by 3.9 percentage points (from 37.8% to 33.8%).</p>
<p>The global market share of most other fuel types has not changed significantly.</p>
<p>The growing share of wind and solar resulted in a record fall of 4% (-346 TWh) in coal power consumption, the report explained. The drop was similar to the rise in wind and solar power of 314 TWh, more than the U.K.’s entire electricity production. This overshadowed the aggregate changes across global electricity: demand fell 23 TWh, gas and oil fell 12 TWh. A rise in hydro of 94 TWh was mostly countered by a fall of 104 TWh of nuclear. In comparison, coal collapsed almost everywhere, with large falls in the U.S. (-20%), European Union (EU) (-20%), and even India (-5%).</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-26413" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Ember-Wind-Solar-2020.png" alt="Ember Wind Solar 2020" width="1225" height="719" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Ember-Wind-Solar-2020.png 1225w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Ember-Wind-Solar-2020-300x176.png 300w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Ember-Wind-Solar-2020-768x451.png 768w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Ember-Wind-Solar-2020-650x382.png 650w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Ember-Wind-Solar-2020-624x366.png 624w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Ember-Wind-Solar-2020-600x352.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 1225px) 100vw, 1225px" /></p>
<p>The study further detailed that the reason behind the green trend is the drop in electricity demand (-0.1%) due to the Covid-19 pandemic that kept 2020 in its grip, adding that this was the first fall since 2009.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://mercomindia.com/renewables-overtake-fossil-fuels-europe/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> released in February this year, Ember had pointed out that renewables overtook fossil fuels as the EU’s primary source of electricity due to the rapid growth of clean energy and decline of coal power. The report said that renewables generated 38% of Europe’s electricity in 2020, while fossil fuels like gas and coal produced 37% of power in 2020.</p>
<p><strong>Renewables Supplied a Third of Africa’s Electricity Demand</strong></p>
<p>According to the report, among Africa’s leading economies, Morocco and Kenya had the highest levels of wind and solar, generating 16% and 15% of their electricity, respectively, from wind and solar in 2019.</p>
<p>However, many of Africa’s leading economies are yet to realize the potential of wind and solar power, said the survey. In 2019, Nigeria and Algeria generated less than 1% of their electricity from wind and solar, while Egypt increased to 3% in 2019 after recent growth in solar power. South Africa generated 6% of its electricity from wind and solar in 2020, tripling since 2015, but still below the world average of 9.4%, the report noted.</p>
<p><strong>Global Shift from Coal Power Needs to Pick Up Pace</strong></p>
<p>The report suggested that clean electricity is not yet being produced fast enough to keep pace with rising electricity demand. Even as wind and solar have risen to nearly a tenth of world electricity, their growth has slowed in recent years, the study pointed out. The 4% dip in coal generation during the pandemic year of 2020 is still insufficient to meet climate targets, the report analyzed.</p>
<p>According to the report, many countries under the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development umbrella are witnessing coal collapse. The study noted that in EU-27, coal generation has almost halved since 2015 (-48%), and the U.S. saw a similar fall (-43%). Smaller, more recent falls have happened in Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada, and Mexico.</p>
<p>However, these falls over the last half-decade were almost entirely offset by rises in Indonesia, Turkey, China, and India. That meant, even including 2020’s record 4% fall, global coal generation was only 0.8% lower in 2020 than in 2015.</p>
<p>Industry experts believe that governments and financial institutes have an important role in bridging the gap and ensuring a green transition. With investors such as Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, JP Morgan Chase, Mizuho Financial Group, among others, <a href="https://mercomindia.com/japanese-bank-says-no-to-financing-new-coal-powered-projects/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pledging</a> to stop funding new coal-fired power projects, more policies seem to be committing to green energy.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/srinwanti/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Srinwanti Das</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><p><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Srinwanti-300pxl.jpg" alt="" width="106" height="115" />Srinwanti is a copy editor at Mercom India, where she writes and edits news stories across the clean energy spectrum. Prior to Mercom, she has worked in book publishing at Macmillan Publishing House and Integra and honed her editorial and writing skills in both online and print media such as Reuters, Times Group Books, The Times of India, and Pune Mirror, covering local to international stories. <a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/srinwanti/">More articles from Srinwanti Das.</a></p>
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