Power sector emissions have peaked

From ClimateCrocks 

(Quoting BNEF)

Global recessions, wars, and (yes) pandemics have a way of driving down energy demand. Last year, the International Energy Agency said the collapse in global primary energy demand brought on by Covid-19 was the biggest drop since the end of World War II, itself the biggest drop since the influenza pandemic after World War I.

Something was different about this collapse, though, something that is not only unprecedented but until recently impossible in global energy. As the IEA’s latest data shows, renewable energy grew last year, and it was the only energy source that did so as consumption of gas, oil, and coal all declined. Renewables were not just an energy growth sector; they were the only energy growth sector.

Not only did renewable energy grow, it did so in record fashion. The IEA’s latest data confirms something my colleagues and I have been observing since the end of 2020: renewable energy installations not only increased during the pandemic, they exceeded even the most bullish of expectations, with wind installations increasing 90% and solar increasing 23%. The IEA only expects more this year – as it says, “Exceptionally high capacity additions become the ‘new normal’ in 2021 and 2022, with renewables accounting for 90% of new power capacity expansion globally.”​ [Note that this is gross new capacity.  In net terms, with old coal power stations being closed, the net percentage may have passed 100%.]

If we cut power sector emissions (~30% of total CO2 emissions) and land transport emissions (~20%), we will have achieved the 50% cut in emissions we need to prevent 1.5 degree rise in global temperatures since pre-industrial times.  Though total power sector emissions might rise this year, as world growth resumes, the rise will be small because of the new renewable capacity coming on line.