With solar and wind farms, and worldwide sharing of power, most African nations could lower the number of conventional power plants - fossil fuel and hydroelectric - they need to build, thereby reducing their infrastructure costs by perhaps billions of dollars.
That is because installing solar, wind and other systems for generating renewable energy became cheaper previous year. The renewables capacity brought online in 2016 is equivalent to that of the world's 16 largest power producing facilities combined.
"Ever-cheaper clean tech provides a real opportunity for investors to get more for less", said UNEP executive Director Erik Solheim.
The European electricity industry association EURELECTRIC announced last week its 3,500 members will not invest in new coal-fired power plants after 2020.
Westinghouse files for bankruptcy protection
Toshiba will close the first round of bids for its chip business - the world's second-biggest NAND chip producer - on Wednesday. Westinghouse said it as secured $800m in financing to fund and protect its core businesses during its reorganisation.
BEIS said: "The two ministers reaffirmed their governments' commitment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Paris Agreement to tackle global climate change and welcomed the early entry into force of the Agreement in 2016". The proportion of electricity coming from renewables excluding large hydro rose from 10.3 per cent to 11.3 per cent.
Another key finding is the decreasing cost of clean energy, as compared with traditional fuels. This was in large part a result of falling costs: the average dollar capital expenditure per megawatt for solar photovoltaics and wind dropped by more than 10 per cent. Investment in 2016 was evenly divided between solar and wind. The renewables programme involves investment of between $30 billion and $50 billion by 2023. Mexico, Chile, Uruguay, South Africa and Morocco all saw falls of 60% of more, due to in part to slower than expected growth in electricity demand. That is true "even in the developing world - sometimes by a factor of two", he added in a statement.
Many countries see renewable energy as an essential part of worldwide efforts to reduce carbon emissions that contribute to global warming.
Comments