Global clean energy could be a reality sooner than we think

Solar-powered e-trees at the Cop28 climate conference at Expo City in Dubai, 2023. The UAE has been investing in renewable energy for years. Bloomberg

"I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy,” Thomas Edison – the American inventor and businessman – is quoted as telling Henry Ford in 1931. “What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that." Close to a century later, it is possible that were Edison alive today, he might get to see his wish fulfilled.

Edison would have been pleased to learn that solar and wind power have surpassed coal as the world’s main source of electricity, according to Ember, a UK-based energy think tank. Its report, released on Tuesday, showed solar and wind outpacing growth in global electricity demand in the first half of this year, resulting in a small decline in coal and gas. This, as one senior Ember analyst put it, “marks the beginning of a shift where clean power is keeping pace with demand growth”.

However, it is not the industrialised West of Edison and Ford that is leading this trend but emerging economies and the Global South. China, India and some parts of Latin America have witnessed major growth in renewables at a time when some nations, including the US and some European powers, still lean heavily on electricity generated by emissions-producing fossil fuels.

UAE launches multibillion-dollar renewable energy facility

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This trend is taking place amid exciting and imaginative energy solutions coming from the Global South economies. In June, Indian conglomerate Adani commissioned the country’s first off-grid 5-megawatt green hydrogen pilot plant in Gujarat. In the Middle East, where the International Energy Agency this month said “rapid population growth, urbanisation and rising temperatures are driving up electricity demand”, important innovations to make renewables work better are also taking shape.

These include vital work on storage options that are essential to effectively harness the Sun’s energy. During Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week in January, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, and Chairman of Masdar, managing director and group chief executive of Adnoc, Dr Sultan Al Jaber, unveiled the world’s first renewable and battery storage facility to provide uninterrupted power, at scale, around the clock in the UAE capital.

For renewables to have the maximum effect possible, the transition we are beginning to see needs to be more even – some regions are moving faster than others

There is plenty of reason for optimism. According to the Abu Dhabi-based International Renewable Energy Agency IRENA is it possible to achieve “even higher shares of renewables” but the “current technological and regulatory context” still presents many challenges. For renewables to have the maximum effect possible, the transition we are beginning to see needs to be more even – some regions are moving faster than others and lower-income countries often have less finance, weaker power grids and a more entrenched reliance on fossil fuels.

Large solar or wind parks can affect the surrounding natural environment and many of the materials that are necessary for renewable energy production, transmission and storage – such as lithium, cobalt and rare earth elements – often come from countries and regions are that geopolitically volatile.

Despite these challenges, renewables are proving their worth environmentally and financially. There are many policy ideas to push the world to a point where it is solar and wind that are primarily powering cities, communities and industries. More long-term, legally binding international targets can establish energy goals independent of election cycles and changing governments. Further technical work on electricity storage capacity while investing in changing energy workers’ skill sets will also keep up the momentum. With the right approach, global clean energy could be a reality sooner than we think.