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A Year for the TRACKING
Record Books
THE ENERGY
REVOLUTION
GLOBAL 2016
FEBRUARY 2016
A Year for the Record Books Cover photo: Workers assemble a large
Tracking the Energy Revolution—Global 2016 edition solar panel array at India’s Gujarat solar
park. In 2015, India regained fifth place
February 2016 globally for clean energy investment, and
has set aggressive targets to produce
© 2016 Clean Energy Canada more clean energy in the years ahead.
ISBN: 978-0-9950609-0-6 Credit: Sam Panthaky, AFP, Getty
Images.
All rights reserved. Permission is granted to reproduce all or part of this publication for
non-commercial purposes, as long as the source is cited as “Clean Energy Canada”.
Photo, opposite: Green Energy Project
Available digitally at www.cleanenergycanada.org. in Bhutan
Design: GOOD Company An Asian Development Bank (ADB)
green energy project that brings greater
Source Data electrification to rural households in
All data referenced are from Bloomberg New Energy Finance, unless otherwise indicated Bhutan and boosts access to green
power in neighboring India.
and accurate as of February 24, 2016. Financial estimates are based on 2015 US dollars,
unless otherwise indicated. Credit: Asian Development Bank, Flickr.
About Clean Energy Canada
Clean Energy Canada works to accelerate Canada’s transition to a clean and renewable
energy system. We collaborate with civil society, governments and the private sector to
build awareness and support for solutions that address climate disruption and foster an
energy efficient, environmentally responsible and prosperous economy.
Clean Energy Canada is an initiative of the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University.
Track the Energy CONTENTS
Revolution Foreword: While Fossils Crash, Clean Energy Soars 2
Each Monday we publish the Clean Energy Renewable Investment Sets New Record 5
Review, a free weekly digest of must-read Spotlight on Canada 5
climate and clean energy stories from across Following the Money 7
Canada and around the world.
New Markets to Watch 7
Subscribe | cleanenergycanada.org/review
Clean Technology Delivers More for Less 9
Follow | @cleanenergycan Growth at a Glance 9
Visit | cleanenergycanada.org Green is the New Black—and it’s Good Business 10
Cities Commit to 100% Clean 10
Canadian Businesses Competing Abroad 11
Bringing the Energy Revolution Home 13
A Year for the Record Books
1
What is Clean Energy?
Clean energy policies, technologies or services accelerate the shift to an
economy based on renewable energy.
The clean energy transition involves:
Reducing Improving the
Increasing the Enabling market
consumer and infrastructure
supply of penetration of
industrial and systems that
renewable clean energy
energy transmit, store
energy. solutions.
demand. and use energy.
TRACKING THE ENERGY REVOLUTION—GLOBAL 2016
2
FOREWORD
While Fossils Crash,
Clean Energy Soars
E nergy headlines in 2015 were
dominated by bad news. Plunging
oil prices. Oil and gas companies
For big power consumers, sourcing
renewable power can lock in future
savings from technologies whose
These global trends need to be on
the radar of Canadian business and
political leaders, because they paint
scaling back investment. Coal fuel—wind, sun, water, biomass a picture of great opportunity. We can
companies going bankrupt. Job losses. and the earth’s heat—is free. Clean lead or we can follow, but we cannot
energy technology and service stand still.
If it bleeds, it leads. companies see market opportunities
There will continue to be markets for
Turmoil in fossil fuel markets led many opening up on every continent. And
our fossil fuel resources for some
analysts to suggest clean energy a growing number of Canadian firms
time to come, but their future is
investment would similarly stall out. are putting skin in the game.
increasingly uncertain. It’s clear where
How could renewable energy possibly the puck is going.
compete with cheap oil, gas and coal? Other forces are also at play. In
countries such as China and India, Canada has tremendous renewable
delivering more power without adding energy resources, and we have been
But clean energy did to the smog that already chokes big a leader in capitalizing on them.
compete, and it won. cities is paramount. In the United We have fostered renewable power
States, climate action is driving a developers, clean energy technology
Once again, more shift from coal-fired power to clean and service providers. The challenge
money flowed into new energy. African countries, including now is to translate this domestic
South Africa, are delivering power success into global success. And the
renewable electricity to communities for the first time clock is ticking.
than new power from and want to avoid the expense of a
fossil fuels. centralized grid. Around the world,
the growing cost-competitiveness of
clean energy makes it an easier and
A record US$367 billion was invested
easier choice. Merran Smith
in renewable power in 2015—a third of Executive Director
a trillion dollars. That’s serious money.
Clean energy is going mainstream. Clean Energy Canada
Clean energy has real momentum, and
the commitments underpinning the Globally, 96 cities, states and even
Paris Agreement on climate change countries have set ambitious targets to
will keep that momentum going. achieve up to 100 per cent renewable
energy. And it isn’t just governments:
some of the world’s largest and most-
There’s money to be made and
recognized companies are committing
money to be saved. For renewable
to—and securing—100 per cent
power developers, declining
renewable power.
technology and financing costs
mean the profits are getting fatter.
2015 marked the first year in which more money was invested in clean energy in developing countries than in developed ones. Photo: Indian workers construct part of the France-India Solar Direct Punjab Solar Park project in Muradwala, India. Credit: Narinder Nanu, AFP, Getty Images.
TRACKING THE ENERGY REVOLUTION—GLOBAL 2016
4
“The electricity system is
shifting to clean. Despite
the change in oil and gas
prices there is going
to be a substantial
buildout of renewable
energy that is likely
to be an order of
magnitude larger
than the buildout
of coal and gas.”
—Michael Liebreich, chairman of the advisory board
at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, April 2015
A Year for the Record Books
5
Investment in Renewables
Sets New Record
Beating even bullish projections, global investment
in clean energy hit a new record in 2015. Spotlight
More than a third of a trillion dollars—US$367 billion, to be precise—was on Canada
invested around the world last year, a healthy seven per cent increase over 2014.
Continuing recent trends, China, the United States and Japan were dominant,
together making well over half of that investment.
TOTAL ANNUAL CLEAN ENERGY INVESTMENT
400
350
While Canada retained its
300 eighth-place ranking for clean
energy investment, 2015
totals were down 46 per cent
$ Billions (USD)
250
from 2014, dropping to
200 US$4 billion. Why?
Canada has a patchwork of
150
provincial renewable power
policies varying from province
100
to province, and these policies
haven’t provided long-term
50
certainty. The country has
also suffered from a lack of
0
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 overarching federal policy
support: pipelines trumped
Solar Wind Large Hydro Biomass + Waste
powerlines as a national
Small Hydro (
TRACKING THE ENERGY REVOLUTION—GLOBAL 2016
6
2015 Global INVESTMENT (USD) IN RENEWABLE ENERGY BY TECHNOLOGY
Large Hydro
$42 Geothermal
Billion $4
Billion
Biomass + Waste
Solar
$41
$161 Billion
Billion
Marine
Wind
$110
Small Hydro
(
A Year for the Record Books
7
Following The Money
CHANGE IN CLEAN ENERGY INVESTMENT (2014–2015)
UK India
23% 23% China
USA 17%Japan
7% 3%
Global Rank Country Amount Invested* in 2015
1st China $110.5bn
2nd United States $56.0bn
Canada
-46%
3rd Japan $43.6bn
4th United Kingdom $23.4bn
5th India $10.9bn
8th Canada $4.0bn
New Markets to Watch
Mexico
2015 also brought a geographical broadening of clean energy as more
developing countries got in on the action. In fact, 2015 marked the first $4.2bn*
year in which more money was invested in clean energy in developing (↑ 114%)
countries than in developed ones.
Chile
The Middle East and Africa are two regions with significant clean energy
$3.5bn
potential. Both have growing populations, and an abundance of solar
and wind resources. In the Middle East, 2015 was a breakout year for
(↑ 157%)
renewable energy—especially solar. Dubai closed out 2015 by launching
South Africa
a strategy to produce three-quarters of its energy from renewable
sources by 2050. Egypt, Jordan and Morocco also moved forward with $4.5bn
ambitious plans to harness the region’s abundant renewable energy (↑ 329%)
resources. In Africa, low rates of electricity access mean power systems
are being developed from scratch—leading the Economist to suggest Morocco
Africa could “leap ahead as one of the world’s leading producers of $2.0bn
clean energy.” In 2015, Africa and the Middle East had combined clean (↑ from ~$0)
energy investment of $13.4 billion, up 54 per cent over 2014.
*All figures in US$
TRACKING THE ENERGY REVOLUTION—GLOBAL 2016
8
“We have this handy fusion
reactor in the sky called
the sun. You don’t
have to do
anything.
It just works.
It shows up
every day
and produces
ridiculous
amounts
of power.”
—Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors and Chairman of SolarCity,
May 2015A Year for the Record Books
9
Clean Technology Delivers
More for Less
In a year in which the world was reminded of the volatility of fossil fuel markets—
the high highs, the low lows, and the speed of change between them—renewable
energy technology costs continued to decline.
A fundamental benefit of clean energy increasing competitiveness with
Growth
technologies (like other technologies) fossil fuels.
is that they follow relatively
wind energy In the utility-scale
U.S. over the last six years,
predictable experience curves.
solar
wind and PV
solar photovoltaic (PV) at a Glance
costs
As production and
costs
systems have become increasingly
cost-competitive, without subsidies,
experience scale up, thanks to improved efficiency and
down down
Wind power
costs come down. a material drop in the costs of deployment led the
components like panels, inverters way: up 31% in
62%
When you couple those declining
costs with free fuel from the wind, 82%
and turbines. The unsubsidized cost
of wind energy is down 61 per cent
2015 compared to
the previous year, with
sun, water, biomass and the earth’s since 2009, and utility-scale solar nearly 64 gigawatts
heat, you have a formula for ever- PV is down 82 per cent. (GW) installed.
Drop in renewable energy technology costs Solar
deployment
just keeps
Levelized Cost of Energy (US$/Mwh)
growing: up
23% over
util
ity-sc 2014, and
ale up 96% since 2011—far and
sol
ar P away the greatest growth
V rate in the sector.
costs down
wind
ener 82% Hydro continues
gy
to be the world’s
costs down dominant
61% renewable
power resource
2009 2015
(59%), followed by
SOURCE: Lazard’s Levelized Cost of Energy Analysis - Version 9.0 (2015) wind (22%) and
solar (13%).
Photo, opposite: Elon Musk, serial entrepreneur, speaks at TED2013
in Long Beach, California.
Credit: James Duncan DavidsonTRACKING THE ENERGY REVOLUTION—GLOBAL 2016
10
Green is the New Black—
and it’s Good Business
Around the world, governments and businesses
alike are making big commitments to clean energy. Cities Commit
The private sector uses about half of the electricity to 100% Clean
produced globally, so when companies choose Cities have also stepped up
with plans to achieve 100 per
to switch to renewable power it can’t help but cent renewable power—from
accelerate the transition of global energy markets. Aspen to Oslo, Vancouver to
Stockholm. More than half of
Business initiatives like the RE100—a collection of big the world’s population live in
businesses committed to source 100 per cent of their cities. In Canada, that figure
rises to more than 80 per
power from renewables—are picking up steam. cent. And the world’s cities
are growing fast.
To help companies deliver on these commitments in the United States, the
Rocky Mountain Institute launched the Business Renewables Centre in 2015. Powering the needs of these
Its mandate is to help streamline and accelerate corporate procurement of wind cities poses a challenge, but
and solar power—helping the likes of HP, General Motors, FedEx, EBay, Yahoo it’s also an opportunity to
and Sprint. accelerate the transition to
renewable energy. In 2015,
Launched in late 2014, RE100 is a collaborative, global initiative of influential Renewable Cities—a sister
businesses committed to 100 per cent renewable electricity. Their aim is simple: initiative at the Centre for
to massively increase corporate demand for renewable energy. These corporate Dialogue at Simon Fraser
clean energy leaders include: University—launched with
a global learning forum in
Vancouver, B.C. The forum
brought together leaders
from municipalities and
government, the private
sector and civil society to
discuss solutions that would
accelerate the adoption of
100 per cent renewable
energy within cities globally.
www.renewablecities.caA Year for the Record Books
11
Canadian Businesses Competing Abroad
“Canada’s few major players in the
solar industry are growing up and
heading out into the world.”
—Ian Bickis, Canadian Press business reporter, October 2015
Canada’s domestic market for clean
Canadian Solar Tantalus
energy is only so big, and it hasn’t Guelph, ON Founded: 2001 burnaby, BC Founded: 1989
been growing as fast as elsewhere,
Canadian Solar (NASDAQ: CSIQ) and its Tantalus Utility Network – TUNet® – is
so many Canadian companies are subsidiaries operate in 20 countries on six Smart Grid technology that enables a
competing globally. Here’s a snapshot continents. A leading manufacturer of solar utility to monitor, control and respond to
of some of those firms. PV modules—with more than 30 million events anywhere and at any time across
PV modules shipped—it also has a 9 GW its distribution network. It serves as the
AMP Solar Group Inc. pipeline of utility-scale power projects. communications backbone that makes
Port credit, ON Founded: 2009 With R&D investments of over US$600 smart metering, power quality monitoring,
million, Canadian Solar holds 217 global outage reporting, load control, and
AMP Solar Group Inc. is an experienced patents and strategic R&D partnerships distribution automation practical and
rooftop solar project developer and a with NREL, ECN and DuPont. cost-effective. The results include more
growing leader in utility-scale projects efficient operations, more accurate billing,
globally. AMP Solar’s portfolio includes At US$265 million, Canadian Solar’s and the ability for a utility to deliver a high
In 2015...
one of the world’s largest rooftop solar acquisition of Recurrent Energy level of customer service.
projects (66 MW) with the Toronto cracked the top-10 biggest clean
District School Board, which involves energy deals of 2015. Following back-to-back years of more
In 2015...
than 50% revenue growth, Tantalus
installing solar panels on more than Canadian Solar continued to climb
moved ahead with a 50% expansion
523 individual schools. Other clients the ranks of global PV module
of its Vancouver headquarters. Why?
include IKEA, Canadian Tire, Lowes, TD manufacturers, and closed 2015
Bank, Royal Bank of Canada and Menkes as the second largest. To add room for state-of-the-art
Developments. product testing facilities, customer
technical training facilities and
AMP Solar signed agreements with modernized engineering labs to
SkyPower Global
In 2015...
70 agricultural cooperatives in support the company’s growth.
toronto, ON Founded: 2003
Thailand, energized three PV plants
in the UK, and signed an MOU to SkyPower is one of the largest developers
develop 500 MW in India during and owners of utility-scale solar energy
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Hydrogenics Corp.
projects in the world, with an extensive Missisauga, ON Founded: 2009
Modi’s visit to Canada.
pipeline of over 25 GW worldwide. Projects
totalling 9 GW of generation capacity— Hydrogenics is a developer and
Electrovaya recently announced in bilateral agreements manufacturer of hydrogen generation
Missisauga, ON Founded: 1996 and other contract awards—are to be built and fuel cell products based on water
in the Middle East, Africa and Southeast electrolysis and proton exchange
Electrovaya Inc. designs, develops and Asia over the next five years. membrane technology.
manufactures Lithium Ion SuperPolymer®
batteries, battery systems and energy In 2015 SkyPower inked agreements In South Korea, Hydrogenics began
In 2015...
In 2015...
to develop solar projects in India, commercial operations of its initial
storage-related products for the clean
Bangladesh, Egypt, Panama and one megawatt fuel cell power system,
electric transportation, portable energy, owned and operated by the Kolon
Kenya.
utility scale energy storage, smart grid Hydrogenics joint venture.
power, consumer and healthcare markets. In July 2015 SkyPower won the rights
to develop 150 MW of solar power in In China, Hydrogenics signed separate
In May 2015, Electrovaya purchased the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh supply agreements with several
In 2015...
Europe’s largest lithium-ion battery with a record low bid of 7.95¢/kWh. Chinese electric vehicle integrators
‘gigafactory’ (Evonik Litarion GmbH), to bring its fuel cell and fueling
station technology to China.
which provides batteries for electric
vehicles in Germany.TRACKING THE ENERGY REVOLUTION—GLOBAL 2016
12
“The future markets,
the technologies,
the energy systems
will be low-carbon...
Whether you build
the next pipeline or
not... the economy
of Canada will not
be centred around
a fossil-fuel based
extractive economy.”
—Achim Steiner, Executive Director
of the UN Environment Programme, January 2016A Year for the Record Books
13
Bringing the Energy
Revolution Home
The global clean energy market is growing—both in size and geography. Every year
there are more countries and more companies choosing renewable energy. Using
technology to harness energy from the wind, sun, water, biomass and the earth’s
heat is quickly becoming commonplace.
Renewable energy continues to remain high-priority, growing markets The end of 2015 was marked by a
exceed expectations, thanks in large in the years and decades ahead. flurry of changes in Canada’s clean
part to growing recognition that energy landscape: new commitments
it offers a wide range of benefits: Canada’s performance to renewable power in Alberta and
Cleaner air. Less carbon pollution. Saskatchewan, the promise of carbon
Dropping technology costs. Free fuel. in 2015 is unsettling, pricing in more provinces and even
and markedly out of step nationally, and a renewed federal
The trends of 2015 illustrate how commitment to climate leadership on
much global momentum there with other nations: why
the global stage in Paris.
is behind clean energy—and the dramatic drop in
that momentum will only keep While carbon-based fuels will remain
increasing in light of the clean energy
clean energy investment, an important part of the global energy
commitments that underpin the Paris particularly when our system and Canada’s economy for
Agreement on climate change. peers and competitors decades to come, their dominance
and longevity are increasingly
There is money to be made and are scaling up? uncertain. What is more certain is that
Canadian companies are setting
But there are signs that 2015 will countries leading the way on clean
their sights on clean energy markets
prove anomalous, rather than the energy—developing new technologies
around the world: in Asia, Africa and
start of a new, downward trend. In the and services, deploying them at
the Americas. Our largest trading
forthcoming Canada edition of our home and exporting them abroad—
partner—the United States—is the
Tracking the Energy Revolution series, stand to benefit economically and
world’s second biggest market for
we’ll unpack the details of where, environmentally, and will emerge as
clean energy. And countries with
why and how Canadian clean energy the energy leaders of the 21st century.
whom we want to strengthen trade,
investment flowed in 2015.
like China and India, are destined to
Photo, Opposite: A Canadian Solar worker installing PV modules.
Credit: David Dodge, Green Energy Futures, Flickr.Suite 721, 602 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, B.C. V6B 1P2
604-947-2200 cleanenergycanada.org
Photo: View from top of Enereem’s Vestas V90
3MW turbine in Madeira, Portugal.
Credit: European Wind Energy Association,
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