Today, the International Energy Agency (IEA) published the tenth edition of its »World Energy Investment« report. According to the report, investment in the energy sector is set to rise by two per cent to reach a new record high of 3.3 trillion US dollars by 2025. Around 2.2 trillion US dollars of this will go into »clean energy«. The IEA defines this as including renewable energies, nuclear energy (with expected investments of 70 billion US dollars in this area), power grids, storage, low-emission fuels, efficiency, and electrification. This is twice the 1.1 trillion US dollars expected to be invested in oil, natural gas and coal.
»Open questions about the economic and trade outlook means that some investors are adopting a wait-and-see approach to new project approvals, but we have yet to see significant implications for spending on existing projects,« the IEA reports.
The IEA also expects investment in solar energy, both in large-scale plants and on rooftops, to reach 450 billion US dollars by 2025. This would make it the largest single item on the list of global investment expenditure. Fierce competition among suppliers and extremely low costs mean that imported solar modules are becoming an important driver of energy investment in many emerging and developing countries, according to the IEA. The IEA estimates that global spending on batteries for electricity storage will reach $66 billion this year.
© PHOTON
