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According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the world added 50 per cent more renewable energy capacity in 2023 than 2022. This represents significant progress, but there is still more work that needs to be done. At the COP28 climate summit, nearly 200 countries signed a pledge to triple global renewable energy capacity by the end of the decade. However, a June 2024 report by the IEA found that countries’ detailed implementation plans are not yet aligned to this ambition. The IEA is quick to point out that governments have the tools to change this through the nationally determined contributions (NDC) process set up by the Paris Agreement. But one thing that will help with the implementation of renewables, and clean energy more broadly, will be further cost reductions.

What HAS HAPPENED TO THE COST OF RENEWABLES?

Long-term reductions in the cost of solar and wind power have been a major climate success story. According to Our World in Data, prices for solar panels have fallen by roughly 20 per cent every time global capacity has doubled, with the levilised cost of solar power – a measure of both installation and operating costs – falling by 89 per cent in the decade between 2009 and 2019. Onshore wind, meanwhile, fell by 70 per cent in the same period, while the levilised cost of offshore wind has also fallen, albeit with more variation and volatility. According to the IEA, utility solar power is now the cheapest option for electricity generation in most parts of the world.

WHAT CHALLENGES REMAIN FOR CLEAN ENERGY?

Progress on renewables has been impressive to date, but the clean energy sector could make further strides by tackling some of the remaining challenges. First, the influx of weather-dependent renewables with variable generation is changing the dynamics of the power grid. Energy storage capacity, in the form of chemical batteries, pumped hydropower, and emerging technologies like thermal batteries and gravimetric systems, will need to expand to help grids match supply and demand. Energy storage has traditionally played only a limited role in fossil-powered grids, so countries will need to ramp up investment in these technologies alongside renewables themselves.

Second, some renewable energy sources, notably offshore wind, have high up-front capital costs and are complex to manufacture. This makes projects vulnerable to fluctuations in financing costs and supply chains, as has been seen in recent years. In 2023, for example, supply chain disruptions and higher finance costs prompted some high-profile negative headlines, with Vatenfall halting an offshore wind project off the coast of Norfolk, while Community Windpower iced an onshore project in Scotland. Despite this, the world added 116 gigawatts of wind capacity during 2023, more than ever before. However, last year’s challenges highlight that there is scope for further innovation.

As the world makes the transition to clean energy, innovators are continuing to find solutions that help to further drive down energy costs.

HOW ARE INNOVATORS REDUCING COSTS?

Photo source AirLoom Energy

A novel design cuts the cost of wind power

As the price of wind energy has dropped, wind installations have also increased in size. And while bigger turbines generate more energy, they also make it more difficult to secure public approval. Finding financing, appropriate sites, and materials is also more challenging for larger installations. Now, wind power startup AirLoom is taking a new approach to address these hurdles.

Instead of huge blades on tall towers, AirLoom’s design consists of vertically oriented, 10-metre-long wings attached to a lightweight track. The blades intercept the wind, which propels them down the track, generating power. Supported by 25-metre-tall poles arranged in an oval, the track can range in length from metres to miles, depending on the desired scale.

In addition to being a less disruptive presence in the landscape, AirLoom wind farms can be built for less than 25 per cent of the cost of a conventional wind project, the company claims. How is this possible? First, the slimmed-down design requires far fewer, and more easily sourced, materials that are easier to transport. In fact, the company claims it can shift a 2.5-megawatt unit in a standard tractor-trailer. What is more, the wings are much shorter than turbine blades, and simple steel cables take the place of massive towers in supporting structural loads. Finally, the generators powered by the wings run at higher RPMs than those in traditional turbines, meaning they generate more power at lower weight. Read more

Photo source SunDrive

Silver-free cells further reduce solar energy costs

Although solar energy has been an undoubted climate success story to date, Australian startup SunDrive Solar warns that the availability of silver could become an unexpected roadblock to further growth of the renewable energy resource.

The precious metal, more often associated with jewellery than clean power, is used by the solar industry for current-collecting electrodes. SunDrive, however, is using a unique copper plating technology that offers a cost-effective alternative to silver. Copper’s cost is approximately one hundred times lower, and its abundance around one thousand times greater, than silver, so making the switch provides some obvious benefits.

However, the startup’s technology also has further advantages that are less apparent to the non-expert. Plated copper offers superior conductivity compared to silver paste, enhancing the overall efficiency of the solar panel, and SunDrive also achieves a higher electrode line density to increase light absorption. The company’s technology can further be applied to thinner wafers, contributing to a reduction in silicon costs.

As a result, the company’s approach reduces high-efficiency cell installation costs by 20–30 per cent. Read more

Photo source Cemvita

Oil-eating bacteria produce ‘gold’ hydrogen

In addition to solar and wind, hydrogen is considered a renewable energy source if it’s produced using renewable power. The clean fuel, which emits no CO2 at point-of-use, could play an important role in the climate transition by adding flexibility to decarbonised energy economies, and by reducing emissions from some of the most hard-to-abate sectors.

‘Green’ hydrogen is made by using a piece of machinery called an electrolyser to split water into hydrogen and oxygen using an electric current. Electrolysers are at an earlier stage of the cost-reduction curve than solar and wind power and the International Council on Clean Transportation estimates that, by 2030, green hydrogen production costs will be $3.7 per kilogramme in the United States and $5.6 per kilogramme in the European Union. A range of other organisations and publications provide their own estimates, but most experts are consistent in projecting that costs will be higher than the US Department of Energy’s goal of reaching $1 per kilogramme by the decade’s end.

As electrolyser technology develops, and green hydrogen prices come down, however, US startup Cemvita argues that we can explore using ‘gold’ hydrogen, which is recovered from depleted oil and gas wells using microbes. The company’s process uses naturally occurring micro-organisms that feed on carbon in the wells and produce hydrogen as a waste product. By intervening to increase the natural performance of the microbes by six and a half times, the company claims it can hit the $1 per kilogramme mark for hydrogen production costs. Read more

Written By: Matt Hempstead

This article summarises some of the key themes of our latest Future Now report, which is available to Springwise members. Become a member today to access the full report as well as all of Springwise’s features and innovations.