Renewable Energy
The share of renewables (wind, solar, hydro, biomass, ocean, and geothermal) in world electricity generation is close to 26%, while wind and solar PV costs continue to decline rapidly, improving their cost competitiveness versus new coal and natural gas plants. The world’s total renewable-based power capacity currently in excess of 2,500 GW, is expected to grow by 50% between 2019 and 2024. This increase of 1,250 GW will be supported by reductions in the production cost of power and government policy reforms. The share of renewables in power generation is expected to rise from 26% today to 30% in 2024 globally.
In Europe where renewables account for close to 600 GW installed electricity capacity, EU countries are required to increase their coverage of total energy needs, with renewables from current levels (19% as of 2019) to at least 32% by end of 2030, according to the Renewable Energy Directive (as of the end of 2018).
Most Eastern & Southern European countries are implementing major energy sector reforms geared towards decarbonization of electricity production and fostering competitive energy markets, which create profitable opportunities for investors. Greece in particular is further supported by its advantageous geographical location and optimal weather conditions featuring long hours of sunlight and strong winds. Particularly, wind power constitutes a landmark sector for Greece as it ranks top among European countries in terms of the wind power’s share in the country's electricity mix (40%).
Europe will strive to capitalize its considerable potential for developing renewable energy to fully achieve the targeted energy transition. To this end, large scale investments are envisaged for the next decade with funding coming from institutional investors and PE funds based in Europe and interested GCC countries that position in RES strategically for long-term fixed returns.
RES - Wind power
Over the last decade, wind energy has been transformed from a niche market to a mainstream sector, recording the steepest growth slope among different renewable sources. Global wind power capacity has more than quadrupled in the last decade, currently standing to circa 650 GW produced from onshore and offshore installations.
Wind in Europe accounts for € 72 bn annual turnover made from more than 200 GW of wind energy capacity. Although onshore wind constitutes the cheapest form of new power generation in Europe today, offshore wind is rapidly reducing costs and will play a central role in Europe’s power mix going forward.
Wind covers over 14% of Europe’s electricity demand out of which more than 11% is sourced from onshore wind and circa 3% from offshore wind installations. By 2030, wind could serve a quarter of the EU’s electricity needs and be the backbone of Europe’s energy system.
RES - Solar power
Sunlight is a clean energy source with the greatest potential to generate heat and electricity. Solar energy technologies convert energy from sunlight to electricity, either directly through photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly through concentrated solar power (CSP), or a combination of both. Global solar power capacity has increased more than 20 times in the last decade, currently standing to circa 600 GW.
Solar PV use is dominated by Asia with over 50% of global installed capacity, followed by North America (20%) and Europe (10%). In Europe, solar power has installed output capacity close to 150 GW, while the solar market is expected to continue to grow from 2021 onwards.
Although solar power growth has decelerated in the recent past, it is expected to be pivotal in the targeted increase of renewables share in global electricity output going forward, via both PV and CSP technologies.