A new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency has found that renewable energy has entered what they are calling a "new virtuous cycle of falling costs, increasing deployment, and accelerated technological progress."
The report, 'Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2012: An Overview', was launched during the recent International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) annual assembly and at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi. It detailed a comprehensive analysis of the costs and performance of renewable power generation currently capable today.
One of the problems renewable energy is facing, according to the report, is what they describe as "outdated perception" of its ability to compete. This perception forms a “significant and unnecessary barrier to its deployment."
One example to the contrary of this perception is the cost of solar energy. The cost of solar energy has dropped below the cost of diesel generation worldwide for communities living beyond access to the electrical grid.
The report's analysis of 8000 medium- to large-scale renewable power generation projects shows that not only are renewable energy projects becoming one of the most competitive options in the field of new electricity grid supply, but they are already the default economic solution for off-the-grid power generation.
'The past two years have seen a remarkable increase in the competitiveness of renewable energy," says Adnan Amin, IRENA Director General. “2012 was the year when renewables came of age – able to compete with other power generation technologies, and increasingly without subsidies. It is time for the public debate to reflect this changing reality."
Back at the beginning of December I reported on IRENA's policy brief that looked at the fact that renewable energy is the easiest way to generate electricity for those not on the electric grid. Every renewable option is a likely option for millions of people around the world: whether it be biomass or hydropower, concentrated or PV solar, or offshore and onshore wind farms. These renewable options are not only feasible for the millions not on major electrical grids, they are cost-effective and energy-efficient.
One need only troll through the masses of clean power stories we have here at CT to see that renewable energy is becoming, more and more, the only smart option left to us.
