Renewable Power is increasing it's foothold over all other Power Generation technologies, and Renewable Energy is turning out to be one of the most crucial ways of achieving the goal of sustainable development for all countries. Significant capacity additions are being witnessed annually. According to the latest report released by GIIR Research wind and solar PV has cemented it's position as one of the leading power generation technologies and account for 49.3% of the cumulative renewable power installation in the world.
According to an upcoming report, "Cost of Power Generation", wind is the largest renewable source and accounts for 36.8% of global renewable capacity. Between 2005 and 2012, cumulative installed capacity of wind power rose from 59.8 GW to 283.9 GW. The future prospects for the wind energy industry appear to be good, largely due to strong government support. By 2020, the wind power cumulative installed capacity is expected to reach 455.8 GW. Meanwhile, global solar PV installed capacity will continue to grow at a CAGR of 15% during the 2013–2020 forecast period to reach 331.2 GW by 2020.
The capital costs of renewable energy generation technologies such as solar PV and solar thermal are currently higher than those of conventional energy generation technologies. However, the capital costs of these renewable energy technologies have been declining over the last four to five years. The major drivers driving down the cost of these technologies are their technological improvements and mass deployments. Additionally, increasing costs during long-term construction and fluctuating fuel costs for conventional power generation are reducing the gap between the electricity costs of these two technologies. These patterns indicate that the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) of renewable energy technologies is becoming competitive with the LCOE of conventional technologies.
