A peek at Wood Mackenzie’s latest outlooks for solar, wind energy storage and carbon emissions. There is little debate that the energy transition is underway. However, the speed at which it is happening is very much in flux. Wood Mackenzie recently compiled some of its latest power and renewables forecasts into a presentation (available here) […]
Texas’ Power Price Spike and Designing Markets for a Carbon-Free Grid
The Texas power market is designed to play chicken with blackouts. Is the model sustainable in a high-renewables system? Last week as Texas’ ERCOT grid reached its price cap of $9,000 per megawatt-hour and the price map on ERCOT’s website became a solid and deep red, many energy market wonks highlighted that this is a […]
WoodMac: Smart Meter Installations to Surge Globally Over Next 5 Years
The rise of advanced metering infrastructure is granting utilities and customers unprecedented insight into power consumption. The total number of smart meters around the world is expected to almost double over 2017 levels by 2024, opening up new opportunities for customer-side control and analytics. The global smart meter total will rise from 665.1 million in […]
India’s renewable energy cost lowest in Asia Pacific, says WoodMac
India’s levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) using solar photovoltaic has fallen to $38 per megawatt-hour (MWh) this year, 14 percent cheaper than coal-fired power that has traditionally been the cheapest source of power generation, WoodMac said. LCOE comprises the cost of generating a megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity, the upfront capital and development cost and the […]
Global Solar Installations to Reach Record High in 2019
Wood Mackenzie’s Tom Heggarty describes what’s shaping today’s global solar market. Global solar PV installations will reach a new high of 114.5 gigawatts in 2019, up 17.5 percent over 2018. According to Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables’ new report, Global Solar PV Market Outlook Update: Q2 2019, the market is now back on a strong […]
Is There a Place for Europe in the Growing Utility Solar-Plus-Storage Market?
The short answer is yes, but it will take further growth of subsidy-free solar projects to get there. The global front-of-the-meter (FTM) solar-plus-storage market took off in 2018, with more than 6 times as many new solar-paired storage megawatts deployed than in the previous year. 2019 is also forecasted to be a strong year for […]
Global Offshore Wind O&M Spend to Exceed $12 Billion by 2028
Most offshore wind farms are fairly young today, but the business of maintaining and repairing them is set for strong growth. The global offshore wind operation and maintenance (O&M) market is expected to grow by 17 percent annually to more than €11 billion ($12 billion) by 2028, according to new research from Wood Mackenzie Power and […]
Africa’s Wind Project Pipeline Grows to 18GW
There is growing momentum behind the development of long-term incentive mechanisms to support African wind markets. The wind industry has been slow to take off in Africa. Developers commissioned projects in only four African markets in 2018. However, the policy inconsistency that has held the market back in previous years is beginning to change. The […]
The Top 5 Inverter Players Saw Their Combined Market Share Slip by 6% Last Year
The industry’s leading suppliers have commanded more of the market each year since 2013, but 2018 was different. The top five PV inverter market players have commanded more of the market each year since 2013, but 2018 was different. In 2018, the top five inverter vendors decreased their total combined market share, which dropped from […]
Europe’s Solar Renaissance Is on the Horizon
European solar installations hit a five-year high in 2018, and the annual market should crack 20 gigawatts by 2021, according to the latest research from Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables. Europe’s solar market is undergoing a resurgence. More than 10 gigawatts were installed in 2018 for the first time in five years, and the market […]