Renewables at forefront of energy transition discussion

By Zeynep Beyza Kilic

ISTANBUL (AA) - Transition in the energy sector is happening and renewables is at the forefront of the discussion, according to Adnan Z. Amin, director general of IRENA on Monday.

Speaking at the World Energy Congress, of which Anadolu Agency is the global communication partner for 2016, Amin stated that since 2011, the majority of capacity additions came from renewables, more than all others resources.

A total of 152 gigawatts of renewables generation were added in 2015, he said at the panel entitled; Global renewables update: the reality of scaling up.

"Investment and growth of renewables at this level signals the energy transformation happening in the sector," Amin said.

Renewable energy use made up 30 percent of total energy generation at the end of 2015, he said.

He added that the declining cost of renewables would accelerate renewable usage throughout the world. With the reduction in the technology costs, by 2025 electricity from solar will decline by 60 percent while the drop in costs will drive further investments.

Renewable energy is a driver of change, Amin said and added that because of the health benefits of renewables, it has aided strategic investment plans, job generation, the reduction in poverty and has contributed to GDP growth.

"Innovation trends, storage possibilities and technology investments will introduce a level of flexibility in renewable energy. We see that in policy and financial areas, there is a lot of innovation and risk mitigation occurring. There is rosy outlook in terms of fast transition," he said.

Jerome Pecresse, president and CEO of GE Renewable Energy, said that, "renewables is mainstream today and continues to be innovative. Lower cost renewables will not stop and renewables percentage will increase," adding that the renewable sector will continue to reinvent itself.

"We sell renewable electricity to everyone, the client base has changed and grown. Renewables started out small but has grown so there is a totally different business model," he explained.

For renewables to grow further, uncertainty needs to be limited and generation capacity needs to be optimized, he added.

He asserted that this is key and cited that steps need to be taken in public policy formation, stability of tariffs and continuance of investment in renewable integration into the grid.

According to Abid Malik, managing director of ACWA power who also attended the panel, renewables are needed and are the only viable option in the power sector to achieve decarbonization.

"In last few years we have seen the phenomenal contribution of non-hydro renewables in the power sector, but there are challenges in the renewables world that needs to be crossed in future to make sure sustainable renewable growth is achieved," Malik asserted.

The major challenge to renewables is in the unpredictability of their supplies.

He added that nature rules renewables, which makes them unreliable, "Solar or wind, there is no fast response. They will generate what they can," he explained.

"Grid infrastructure is also important, investments in transmission, infrastructure and the distribution sector are needed to bring renewables into the grid," he said.

Frank Quante, managing director of EWE Turkey said that in the renewable sector, solutions need to be created firstly on a small scale. He said renewables require to firstly to focus on local solutions, then on regional solutions and subsequently on any problems nationally and internationally.

"Complexity is too high to just find solutions from top to down," he said.

"Decisions at the top level are needed, but solutions are not given there, and they have to be created at the local level or regional level," he said.