The world’s governments have agreed they want to triple renewable energy by 2030, a goal laid out at the U.N. climate summit in December.
But right now, the post-pandemic global economy is throwing up obstacles that will need to be overcome if the goal is going to be met.Renewables have much higher up-front costs to build wind farms, solar arrays and more, and that borrowing costs money. After that, operating costs are negligible since the wind and sun are free, of course — but high interest rates have made it harder to get new projects off the ground.
In many cases, the answer is raising the agreed price of the electricity flowing to the grid to cover the added costs.and rent, but the electric cables, power turbines, construction materials and services needed to build wind or solar installations. One exception: solar panels have plunged in price due to massive Chinese production.
Order backlogs and supply delays are growing because there are shortages of skilled engineers, raw materials and a lack of manufacturing capacity for complex machinery needed for renewable energy projects. An order for a new wind turbine or a transformer to connect to the grid can take months or longer to arrive than it did before the COVID-19 pandemic.So-called NIMBY syndrome remains an issue in many places. Germany’s southern region of Bavaria, for example, is known for resisting the noise and appearance of wind turbines in its scenic landscape.The result is that the same solar park if built today costs twice as much in Ghana as it would in the U.S.
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Source: CNN - 🏆 4. / 95 Read more »