Energy remain one of the biggest areas of investment worldwide. The recent pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war have exposed countries dependencies on fossil fuels and how vulnerable their economy is based on these dependencies. As the world moves towards reducing its dependence on fossil fuel energy, the rise of new technologies to generate clean energy is the mantra for the coming decade. China is the biggest investor in green energy followed by India and the USA.

 

In 2021, the total share of global renewable energy generation capacity was 3064 GW or about 38.3%. Hydropower accounted for 1230 GW followed by Solar at 849 GW, Wind at 825GW, 524 GW of Marine Energy and 143 GW of Bioenergy. Around 60% of new capacity was added in Asia where China was the biggest contributor adding 121 GW. China, USA, India, Russia and Japan are the five largest electricity producing countries on the planet. China's appetite for energy is enormous and it consumes 26% of the Worlds energy supply 35% more than the USA annually. China's energy consumption has tripled since the year 2000.

 

In 2020 the global power sector installed capacity was 4415 GW of Fossil Fuel energy and 2765 GW of renewable energy. Nuclear energy production was 394 GW. In 2021, China's installed energy generation capacity was 2380 GW of which 1297 GW was generated by fossil fuel mainly coal. USA in 2021 had an installed energy generation capacity of 1177 MW where 63% was generated using fossil fuels. Natural Gas was the primary source accounting for 43% followed by Coal at 18% and Petroleum at 2%. Renewable energy accounted for 27% and Nuclear Energy 8%.

 

The Indian Power Sector has an installed capacity of 407 GW with the private sector accounting for 50%. Total Fossil Fuel comprising Coal (50%) and Gas (6.1%) account for 57.9% of the energy produced while the balance is clean energy comprising Wind (10.2%), Solar (14.9%), Hydro (11.5%). Nuclear Energy accounts for only 1.7% of the power generation and Bio-waste energy just 0.1%. A substantial amount of energy is lost in transmission. However, the demand and supply gap has been brought down substantially in the past decade from -11% to -4%.

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As the world moves towards cleaner energy, India still has a long way to go to becoming completely green and there in lies the opportunity. With another 57.9% of Fossil Fuel to replace, this is a trillion dollar opportunity. With the government offering investment benefits into renewables and more such attractive schemes in the future, the clean energy ramp up will make India a global leader in going completely green over the next decade.

 

The future lies in homes going off grid with roof top solar panel producing energy not just for an individual home but capable of offering excess to sell via the grid. With battery technology rapidly advancing with storage capacity increasing to hold more energy and quick charging capabilities, the dependence on grid power will reduce substantially over the next decade. 

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In the race to innovate and create new and green energy technologies to produce 100% green energy by the year 2070, some of the areas which will see substantial investments in the future are Green Hydrogen Power technologies, Concentrated Solar Energy,  Smart Nuclear Technologies, Bio-fuel & Bio-mass using microbes, Ocean Wind Farms and underwater Tidal Turbines. Smart power generation and grid management systems to ensure minimal energy loss and intelligent power supply will be key focus areas too.

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While new technologies will take time to become 100% green right from bio-degradable materials used in building them to zero reliance on any fossil fuel and will initially be expensive till the technology stabilises where competition makes the technology cheaper, investments will grow substantially in research & development of new materials, carbon capture technologies, etc. Corporates and property developers will also look towards generating clean power within their projects and use materials which lower power consumption bringing down the demand stress substantially. Many companies like Facebook are running on renewable energy and this trend will only grow in the years to come as part of a corporates aim to become carbon neutral.