https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/rise-of-renewables-creating-new-world-report-11112160
Rise of renewables creating 'new world': Report
11 Jan 2019 11:05PM
ABU DHABI: The rapid growth of renewable energy sources and the demise
of fossil fuels are causing major changes in global politics, a special
commission said in a report Friday (Jan 11).
The shift "will alter the global distribution of power, relations
between states, the risk of conflict, and the social, economic and
environmental drivers of geopolitical instability," said a the
commission set up by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
Solar, wind and other renewables, which currently make up around a fifth
of global energy production, are growing faster than any other source,
the report said.
Commission chairman and former president of Iceland, Olafur Ragnar, said
the shift will likely cause China to eclipse the United States, place
oil-dependent Gulf states at risk and help impoverished African nations
achieve energy independence.
"It is difficult to predict when, but this change is happening
comprehensively and fast," Ragnar told AFP.
The report, entitled "A New World", was launched at IRENA's ninth
general assembly in Abu Dhabi.
"The shift from fossil fuels to renewables is driven by new technologies
and falling costs, increasingly making renewables as competitive as
conventional sources of energy," the report said.
The cost of electricity from solar sources has dropped by 75 per cent
since 2009 while the price of wind turbines halved over the same period,
it said.
IRENA secretary general Adnan Amin said the body's analysis shows that
"by 2020, all commercially available renewable technologies will be on
par with, or cheaper than, fossil fuels competitors".
He said that in 2017, a record 168 gigawatts of electricity were
generated from renewable sources - double the previous year.
The IRENA commission also warned that countries are heavily dependent on
fossil fuel exports would need to adapt to avoid "serious economic
consequences".
But, it said, renewables will be a powerful vehicle of democratisation
because they make it possible to decentralise the energy supply.
[Report available at:
https://www.irena.org/publications/2019/Jan/A-New-World-The-Geopolitics-of-the-Energy-Transformation
(93 pages)]