International Energy Agency: Global Renewable Energy Market Report May 2022

A survey report recently released by the International Energy Agency predicts that the global new installed capacity of renewable energy will increase by 8% in 2022 and will exceed the 300GW mark for the first time.

The newly installed capacity of photovoltaic systems is expected to be 190GW, accounting for 60% of the new installed capacity of renewable energy in the world this year, an increase of 25% compared with last year. Driven by strong policy implementation in China and the European Union, utility-scale photovoltaic systems will account for nearly two-thirds of the total installed capacity of all photovoltaic systems.

The report pointed out that the global onshore wind power installed capacity will rebound slightly and reach the 80GW mark in 2022. However, the global onshore wind power installed capacity was severely affected in 2021, down 32% from 2020.

Global offshore wind power growth is expected to fall 40% in 2022 as many offshore wind power projects are built before subsidy elimination deadlines, resulting in China's offshore wind power installed capacity seeing spectacular growth last year.

The report said that despite facing many challenges, 2021 was a good year for the development of the renewable energy industry, with 295GW of new installed capacity, an increase of 6% compared with 2020.

Globally, new wind power capacity fell by 17% in 2021, offset by growth in installed capacity of photovoltaic systems and hydropower facilities. Compared with 2020, installed capacity of bioenergy, concentrated photovoltaics, and geothermal facilities maintained stable growth in 2021.

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, although the development of India's renewable energy industry slowed down in 2020, it achieved record growth in 2021. With the commissioning of utility-scale renewable energy projects that have been auctioned and the acceleration of the distributed photovoltaic market, India's added renewable energy installed capacity in 2021 doubled compared with 2020.

India installed a record 10GW of PV systems in 2021, a significant year-on-year increase of 210% compared to the 3.2GW installed in 2020.

China led the world in installed renewable energy capacity in 2021, accounting for 46% of the world's total installed capacity last year. However, this figure was 2% lower than in 2020, with installed capacity of utility-scale photovoltaic systems and onshore wind power falling by 22% and 55%, respectively, compared to 2020.

The European Union came in second in terms of added renewable energy capacity, with the region surpassing the all-time record for the first time in 2021. PV systems alone accounted for the majority of EU installations last year, thanks to an accelerated pace of project development in Spain, France, Poland and Germany.

The International Energy Agency report pointed out that unless there are some new policy developments in 2023, the global renewable energy installed capacity is expected to maintain steady growth compared with 2022. Although the installed capacity of photovoltaic systems will continue to rise in 2023, reaching nearly 200GW, and wind power generation and bioenergy will maintain steady growth.

Since the beginning of 2021, photovoltaic raw material prices and freight rates have been rising. By March 2022, photovoltaic-grade polysilicon prices had more than quadrupled, steel had risen by 50%, copper had risen by 70%, aluminum had doubled, and freight rates had increased nearly fivefold. The report pointed out that the overall investment costs of new utility-scale photovoltaic projects and onshore wind power projects in 2022 will be 15% to 25% higher than in 2020.

From 2022 to 2023, China will account for nearly 45% of the world's new installed capacity of renewable energy, and the average annual installed capacity of renewable energy will reach more than 140GW.

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