Full Title: SOLAR IS DRIVING A GLOBAL SHIFT IN ELECTRICITY MARKETS
Author(s): Tim Buckley and Kashish Shah
Publisher(s): Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis
Publication Date: May 1, 2018
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Description (excerpt):
Solar energy is taking an increasingly prominent role in driving the ongoing transformation
of global electricity generation markets alongside gains in storage, wind, hydroelectricity
and energy efficiency.
The speed of this transformation is hard to grasp, particularly in the crucial China and
India markets, but the results of 2017 are a good indicator of the trend.
Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) reports that 98 gigawatts (GW) of solar was
installed globally in 2017, a 31% increase from the prior year. Meanwhile – and just as
important – the levelized cost of solar dropped 15% year-on-year to US$86/MWh for
capacity installed in 2017.
Leading the charge, China accounted for more than half the newly installed solar
capacity, or some 53 GW, a figure that as recently as 2014 would have eclipsed the
global total of solar installations.
While India’s current installation numbers aren’t as dramatic as China’s, India is clearly
embarking on a massive transformation of its electricity sector as well. The country’s 2018
National Electricity Plan, released in March, affirms national intentions to increase
renewable energy capacity to 275 GW by 2027, with solar representing two-thirds of this
total. As renewables rise in India, thermal power capacity is forecast to decline to just 43%
of the nation’s total in 2027, down from 66% today.