A new report has revealed that in the coming years, Africa and Asia will gradually overtake Europe as one of the key areas of growth in the production and use of renewable energy technologies.
The EY report shows that Germany, which is one of Europe’s leaders in renewable energy technology, suffered with its general election taking place last September, meaning a delay on discussions on how to reduce the cost of green energy.
South Africa is however enjoying a significant boom of late with regard to clean tech and has previously been voted by the IHS as the best country in the world in which to locate clean technologies.
Also, after a series of delays, phase two of India’s ambitious National Solar Mission attracted bids totalling 2,170MW, almost triple the 750MW on offer.
This solar success will likely boost support for government plans to launch a similar programme for wind; the National Wind Energy Mission, announced in January, will target 100GW of wind power by 2022, a third of India’s estimated wind-energy potential.
Meanwhile, the UK government’s proposals to make mature renewable technologies compete head-to-head for subsidy support from day one of the new contracts for difference regime — on top of cuts already planned — have thrown their market into a spin.
Mixed policy signals on the country’s long-term energy strategy are also continuing to reduce investor confidence in the government‘s commitment to a low-carbon energy future, while the mothballing of a number of large-scale offshore wind projects has also sparked concerns.
Source: www.siliconrepublic.com
