This report published by IRENA highlights that the years leading up to 2030 are critical to put the world back on course to keep global temperature rise to within 1.5°C of pre-industrial levels. Equally alarming, 2024 has been confirmed as the warmest year in the 175-year global temperature record, surpassing all previous years and reinforcing the urgency of accelerating climate mitigation efforts. Achieving global net-zero emissions by 2050 will require nearly tripling energy transition investment: total investment in 2024 reached just USD 2.1 trillion, far short of the USD 5.6 trillion needed each year in the period 2025-2030 under the BloombergNEF Net Zero Scenario. Requirements continue to climb sharply beyond 2030, peaking at around USD 7.8 trillion/year in 2036-2050. Further accelerating the energy transition is imperative in order to mitigate climate change with diversified energy portfolios, combining solar, wind, hydropower and geothermal with emerging technologies such as energy storage to ensure energy security with renewables while managing the impacts of intensifying climate variability.
Infrastructure and complementary energy transition technologies are also essential to drive the energy transition. Enhancing physical grid infrastructure is crucial to fully harness the potential of integrating renewables, including variable renewable energy and other energy transition technologies into energy systems. Energy storage systems, particularly battery energy storage systems (BESS), are also an important enabling technology for forward-looking planning of modernised grid infrastructure, offering significant flexibility to the power system. Costs for BESS fell to USD 192/kWh in 2024, which is a 93% decline since 2010. In addition, zero- and low-carbon renewable fuels, such as biofuels, and green hydrogen and its derivatives, can play an important role in decarbonising hard-to-abate and energy-intensive sectors like steel, chemicals, long-haul transport, shipping and aviation.
Another key emerging area is digitalisation. Digital technologies – predictive maintenance, realtime performance monitoring, AI-enabled asset management, etc. – are improving operational efficiency across renewable assets, allowing for lower operation and maintenance (O&M) costs and extended asset lifetimes. For solar PV and onshore wind, in particular, digitalisation enables granular optimisation of performance, enhancing competitiveness in merchant and auction-based markets. Innovations in digital platforms are also supporting advanced forecasting and grid services, helping to align variable generation with system needs.
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