Inflation threatens record pace of renewable power rollout

Enlarge / Workers install photovoltaic panels on the roof at the reconstruction project of Fengtai Railway Station on November 12, 2021, in Beijing, China. (credit: Jia Tianyong/China News Service)

Around the world, countries installed renewable power at a record pace in 2021, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency. The trend is likely to continue for the next five years, with 95 percent of all new electrical generating capacity being renewable.

“This is equivalent to the current global power capacity of fossil fuels and nuclear combined,” the IEA said in the report.

Yet even then, the world will need to double the rate at which it adds renewable power in the next five years to remain on track to reach net zero in 2050. To keep pace with variable wind and solar power, energy storage will have to nearly double as well. The world can’t just add more renewable power—it has to replace existing fossil fuel plants as well.