“55% of the power plants in the world will be solar, led by emerging countries,” said the manager, who welcomed the commissioning of 290 GW of installed renewable capacity during 2021, 3% more than in 2020.
“If they remain high in the coming months, we will see a setback” in the development of solar and wind energy, warned the director of the IEA.
The head of the agency put the accent, however, on good examples, such as India.
“It is going in a very good direction and it will surely deliver the 500 gigawatts of clean energy before 2030 promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the last COP26. It will be very good for India and the rest of the world,” Birol stressed.
He also noted that India, the second most populous country in the world with 1.38 billion inhabitants, is “making great strides” in biofuels. By 2026 it will be the third market in the world in this sector, only behind the United States and Brazil.
The executive also welcomed China’s commitment to electric vehicles, with notable growth thanks to the fact that, among other factors, “the cost of batteries is falling.” The Asian giant, with 1,400 million inhabitants, is well on track to advance the COP26 emissions commitments by four years, he added.
“We see very clearly in the IEA the emergence of the new global energy system and we are very happy to attend it, to identify it, to help and, where we can, to lead this process,” he concluded.