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Sun and wind will account for half of the world’s electricity in 2050
Almost half of all electricity in the world will come from renewable energy sources in 2050. Sun and wind will gain momentum, as the price of producing energy from these sources will decrease. At the same time, the capacity of the batteries will increase.
This is the forecast from the research-centre Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BloombergNEF), who furthermore estimates that the energy requirement will grow by 62 per cent towards 2050 and an increasing part of the demand will be covered by renewable energy sources. In line with this trend, it is predicted that new energy projects will attract EUR 11.9 trillion in investments.
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Denmark in the lead
In 2018, 41 per cent of Danish electricity was produced solely by wind power. This shows that Denmark has a head start in the transition to electricity derived from renewable sources.
However, all of Europe is on the right track towards almost exclusively using renewable sources to produce electricity. According to the forecast from BloombergNEF, Europe will be a global leader in renewable energy in 2050 as 92 per cent of the region's electricity will come from renewable energy sources.
Even China and India, which are still adding coal plants to their grids, will get almost two-thirds of their power from mostly solar and wind by 2050.
Meanwhile, the United States is predicted to have 43 per cent of electricity covered by renewables in the coming three decades.
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Black energy phased out
Another highlight from the forecast is the phase-out of fossil fuels. Coal will be the biggest loser as a source of electricity. Today, 37 per cent of worldwide energy production comes from coal, while the share in 2050 is estimated to decrease to 12 per cent.
BloombergNEF argues that the price of wind power since 2010 will drop by 49 per cent, while the price of solar energy in the same period will fall by 85 per cent. In effect, this will make renewable energy sources cheaper than coal and gas in two-thirds of the world.
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