Countries across the world are racing to accelerate renewable energy production as concerns around climate change and rising global temperatures continue to heighten. From the UAE to Japan and Brazil to Australia, both developed and developing economies are investing in renewable energy generation and global manufacturing innovations to meet the fast-growing energy demand and ensure long-term sustainability.

2018 was a milestone year for the global energy transition. At the 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP24), countries agreed on rules and mechanisms to limit the global temperature increase to below 2°C, essentially making the Paris Agreement operational. Indeed, the agreement involved a series of political negotiations, as well as taking into account the varied socio-economic realities and capabilities of each country to successfully drive the transition to a low-emissions future. This may be a challenge for the global manufacturing & industrialisation revolutions. Because the manufacturing sector has the biggest impact on climate change.

 

 

“All evidence from the past 10 years points to clear and overwhelming social and economic benefits of climate action. The global manufacturing industry also joins hands in the reduction of greenhouse gases. For this, the global manufacturing industry needs to increase efficiency so as to reduce energy utilization. The full implementation of the agreement at the national level means that countries and non-state actors alike can fully capitalize on these benefits as they enter a new era of accelerated climate action,” according to the United Nations Climate Chief, Patricia Espinosa.

 

 

Notably, as a result of this global commitment and greater awareness of the importance of climate action, transition towards renewable sources and energy innovations have gained momentum over the past five years. Even in the Global Manufacturing and Industrialization Summit (GMIS) the global technology and manufacturing community joins the fight against climate change. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), 2020 witnessed the largest year-one-year growth in renewable energy capacity since 1999 as energy sources such as solar and wind grew at their fastest rate, driven by increased investments. Additionally, both corporate energy spending and public Research & Development in IEA member countries witnessed consistent growth over the past decade – low-carbon energy technologies currently account for 80% of total public energy R&D spending.

 

 

Specifically, these changes have led to three key trends to emerge in the renewable energy sector:

 

 

Solar Energy: Solar is a booming area of innovation, predominantly driven by recent breakthroughs in Perovskite Solar Cells (PSC). Innovations in solar include sectoral integration - coupling the energy consumption in residential, commercial, transport and industry with the power production sector through smart infrastructure. Integrating intelligent systems to generate and distribute energy fortifies ability of renewable energy sources to decarbonise the economy in a faster and more cost-effective manner. As a result, IHS Markit has predicted that the annual solar installations will grow by over 30% in 2021.

 

 

Importantly, several countries have been rapidly investing in this energy source. For example, the United Arab Emirates has increased its renewable energy capacity over the past four years, reaching over 2GW out of its 30GW grid capacity. The UAE is home to the Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai, the largest single-site solar park in the world, implemented by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA). The UAE government has also successfully deployed a solar park instalment project in the Al Dhafra region in Abu Dhabi with a capacity of 2GW whilst registering the world’s lowest electricity generation cost at 1.35 cents/kWh.

 

 

 

Wind Energy: The wind sector continues to innovate with increasing turbine size and improvements such as floating wind concepts that allow the technology to be scaled and new regions to consider offshore development. Offshore wind is set for another bumper year in 2021, nearly doubling deployed capacity to 10GW, according to the IHS Markit report. For example, in Aberdeen, United Kingdom, the Dolphyn Hydrogen project has developed a floating wind generation concept and recently won USD 3.9 million of government funding to grow a 2MW prototype unit by 2024 that can scale up to a 10MW commercial facility in 2027.

 

 

Offshore wind has also been recognised as a good transition opportunity for the oil and gas industry. Shell, the global energy corporation, recently announced the acquisition of a majority stake in the Emerald floating wind project in the Celtic Sea. In January 2021, Danish wind giant Orsted announced a USD 684 million deal to build and expand a 2MW facility that would produce up to one ton of green hydrogen daily.

 

 

Hydrogen Energy: According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Green hydrogen is the renewable energy source to watch in 2021, as the European Union and many other states around the world pump investment in the burgeoning sector. Green hydrogen has the potential to make the most impact in accelerating decarbonisation efforts, particularly in sectors such as heavy industry, chemicals and transportation where electrification is not viable.

 

 

Earlier this year, UAE based-Masdar announced that it has partnered with Abu Dhabi Department of Energy, Etihad Airways, Lufthansa Group, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Siemens Energy, and Marubeni Corporation to develop green hydrogen in Abu Dhabi. In addition, Mubadala Investment Company, ADNOC and ADQ have joined forces to develop the Abu Dhabi Hydrogen Alliance. The alliance aims to advance a green hydrogen roadmap for the UAE.