Democratizing Solar Energy : Efficiency , profitability and affordability are useful to democratize this source of energy .
A unique goal to tackle climate change permitted to implement the Paris Agreement in November 2016 , we ’ re facing a serious challenge to alleviate much of our oil dependency : a fundamental modification of our energy supply and use will modify our way to produce wealth . Firms as economic agents participates to create growth , but large corporations are signing new power purchase agreements to lower their energy supply and become less reliable on oil .
50
40
30
Snapshot of the global investment in the energy sector
Oil & Gas supply
46 % of the total investment allocated to oil & gas compared to 23 % for renewable energy . However , we can see that coal tends to be less profitable an require less investment than before : a global trend boost renewable energy investment .
The entire energy sector will demand significant investment if we want to keep pace with growth . Indeed , 1.8 trillion of US dollars was the amount invested in the current sector ; 50 % of the amount was entirely directed towards gas , coal and oil which proves that we can ’ t really adopt a behaviour that will permit us to substitute oil with green energy . The situation is complicated since that we will have to use fossils fuels energy in order to keep growth , but we can also underline the fact that 23 % of the total investment was allocated to low carbon energy and the number will continue to increase every year since we ’ re engaged in a revolution of our consumer habit shifting our energy consumption .
Exhibit 1
Solar Energy : Higher performance and capacity , investment is a key to obtain better results to diversify our source of energy .
Capacity ( Mw )
150000
20
10
0
Coal Supply
Electricity Networks Energy Efficiency
Source : IRENA Perspectives for energy transition 2017 .
Power generation ( Renewable energy )
North America
Oceania Middle East
Asia
Africa
Europe
|
Source : IRENA Capacity Statistics 2017 .
0
|
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
The market will continue to grow in the future , we have to expect that the level of investment will permit to expand the pie for every actors of the industry . China plan to invest 2.5tn yuan by 2020 according to the country ’ s energy agency , a clear path to less oil or coal power . Indeed , China will ultimately lead the market with 3.5 million jobs thanks to their commitment in green energy , they also allocated 0.6 to 0.8 % of their GDP in renewable energy as investment to create employment and growth . Followed by the European Union , Brazil and North America , investment in solar energy is less impressive than wind power . According to the International National Agency , only 34 % represents investment in solar PV whereas 37 % of the investment is led by wind farm . Moreover , some countries like Japan give priority to solar energy due to their geographical location . In terms of investment , China understand that cutting cost will help them provide enough energy , on a larger scale solar energy can be very profitable to their industry enhancing their productivity and performance in the long term . About the European Union or North America , we ’ re actually facing a shift in terms of consumption : solar energy tends to become more and more interesting for large corporations attracted by low costs .
Clean energy investment : A transition towards renewable energy to conceptualize a post-oil city .
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