In most parts of the world, renewable energy is flourishing – with wind power leading the charge into untapped markets and booming territories. We asked GE’s Peter Oram to provide us with an overview of the current situation in a number of key technologies…
After a record year of installations in 2014, renewables accounted for nearly half of all new power generation capacity last year, led by continued growth in countries including China, the United States, Japan and Germany. In fact, Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicts that by 2040, the world’s energy mix will have transformed from two-thirds fossil fuel to one-third, with renewables accounting for roughly 60 percent of energy generated.
As renewables continue to increase in importance for many countries around the world, we thought it would be worth taking a look at the global hotspots for wind, solar and tidal energy to see what trends are emerging and where the hotspots currently are.
Wind power booms in China
More than 51GW of wind energy was installed last year alone. Of that, China is leading the way, after installing an impressive 23GW of new wind power in 2014, making a total 114GW of wind power throughout the country.
Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicts that China alone will attract $3.3 trillion of new investment in renewable energy – nearly double the total for the Americas – and build 2,601GW more renewable energy capacity by 2040.
