Abstract:
Trends & Outlook for Renewable Energy in Asia
- Power Generation Market: Installed Capacity Forecast by Fuel Source
- Regulatory Overview and Targets for Renewable energy in Asia
- Renewable Energy (RE) becomes cost competitive with conventional power
- Solar PV installed capacity to grow by 10% in 2018 driven by China and India
- Integration of RE into the power grid becomes critical; Strong growth for Energy Storage Technologies
The 3D‘s of Power – Decarbonization, Decentralization, Digitalization – continue to be underlying factors determining the global power market landscape. 2018, Frost & Sullivan expects global power generation capacity to increase from 6,043 GW to 6,299 GW at an investment of US$423.92 billion. Globally, solar PV installed capacity has overtaken nuclear capacity in 2017 driven by high investment levels (53GW) in China. In 2020, solar PV is likely to overtake wind in terms of capacity. Investments in renewable energy (RE) sector alone are expected to be US$$324.92 billion for 2018.
Many countries in the Asia Pacific region have introduced various policies and financial incentives to promote the update of renewable energy. Some countries also have specific RE targets in place. As countries continue to focus on reducing subsidies for conventional fuel sources, they would offset the impact by maintaining stability over RE policies, collecting accurate national data of heating and cooling, and collecting accurate and timely RE data for future plans.
RE is fast becoming cost competitive with conventional power sources in this region. Technological advancements and business model innovations keep RE market attractive, in the post-subsidy era. Amongst all the RE technologies, solar PV is poised for strong growth even in 2018. The installed capacity for solar power is likely to grow by 10% in 2018 mainly driven by China and India. In addition, global average solar prices declined by 40% between 2015 and 2017, partly due to the growth in lower cost Asian markets and declines in module prices, inverters, and other components.
Integration of RE into the power grid is gaining criticality leading to strong interest in Energy Storage Technologies including batteries. As countries gear up for handling larger shares of renewables into their grids, storage technology becomes more relevant, with recent inventions such as Tesla’s Powerwall and modifications to existing storage systems.
