During the past decade, “Renewable energy” is well-known and recognizable. Renewable energy, for example; solar; wind; biomass; hydro and hydrogen, are unexhausted resources of energy which can be turnover to use again. It is clean energy source without any impact to environment. Owing to the volatility of world oil market price effecting to increase of domestic oil price, countries have made an endeavor to encourage using of domestic renewable resources as well as available technology in energy production within the country. Also, the strong policies to promote their full economic potential are evidently determined to reduce impacts of change in fuel price.
Generally, energy policy planning is separated into three periods: short term (less than 5 years), medium term (5-10 years) and long term (more than 10 years).
• Short term policy aims to promote the proven technologies with high potential for energy sources.
• Medium term policy aims to develop and implement the new technology or energy sources with respected to economic value.
• Long term policy aims to supply the advanced technology and new energy sources connecting with increasing amount of energy demand in the future, resulting in the more diversification of energy resources.
Trend of renewable energy market
In 2013, global renewable electricity generation rose for almost 22 percent of total power generation, effecting from fast capacity expansion of hydropower and solar PV. In addition, many nations had supported the policies aimed at enhancing energy security and sustainability and therefore renewable electricity expanded at its fastest rate for more than about 45 percent of net additions to world capacity in the power sector in 2014, especially for onshore wind (about one-third of the renewable capacity increase) and solar PV. Then, because of sharp cost reductions of technology resulting in low cost of electricity generation, renewables capacity reaches 15 percent more than the previous year in 2015.
International Energy Agency (IEA)’s Medium-Term Renewables Market Report indicates that over the next 5 years renewables will remain the fastest growing sources due to excessive reduction of technology cost. IEA estimated that cost of onshore wind generation will decrease by a further 15 percent and solar PV cost will be anticipated to decline by one-fourth of the present price by 2021.
Besides that, the implementation and support of renewable energy policies in the key countries such as the United States, China, India and Mexico, including the improvement of financing conditions for renewable energy investment will play an important driven factor to expand the renewable energy market over the next 5 years, especially for many countries in Asia such as China, India and ASEAN countries (see Fig. 1). Regarding to the IEA’s information in 2015, two wind turbines were installed every hour in China, effecting on 40 percent of all renewables increase while about half a million solar PV were installed everyday around the world.
Countries with Renewable Energy Policies and Targets, Early 2015
Trend of renewable energy market in Southeast Asia
Presently, many countries in ASEAN are emerging into a big problem of electricity demand increase, resulting in rapid growth of fossil fuels import as well as large emission of air pollutants. Therefore, ASEAN countries had launched the national energy policy based on three schemes such as construction of energy security, development of energy cost and reduction of environmental effects. Implementation of renewables which are domestically supplied is the one of key strategies, especially for abundant hydropower in this region. Additionally, implementation of high potential geothermal is applied in Indonesia and Philippines. Solar PV is also implemented in this region as other countries in rest of the world. However, onshore wind is applied only in Thailand who has high energy diversity and that would ever be the national leader of renewable energy in Southeast Asia.
References:
1. International Energy Agency, “Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Report 2015”. Retrieved from https://www.iea.org/Textbase/npsum/MTrenew2015sum.pdf
2. International Energy Agency, “Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Report 2016”. Retrieved from: http://www.iea.org/Textbase/npsum/MTrenew2016sum.pdf
3. REN21, “Renewables 2015 Global Status Report”. Retrieved from: http://www.ren21.net/status-of-renewables/global-status-report/renewables-2015-global-status-report/