Coal power could be dying for good — here’s the evidence

pulse

June 15, 2017 8:20 PM

Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s 2017 report says coal-fired power will peak in less than 10 years, and renewables will soon be cheaper almost everywhere.

Today, coal accounts for over 40% of the world's electricity production.

But within 10 years, coal as an energy source will peak and then decline. At the same time, cleaner sources, like solar and wind, will become cheap enough to surpass it.

That's the takeaway from the 2017

Global power demand will grow by 58% between now and 2040 (or 2% annually)
Within four years, solar will be cheaper than coal globally
Global coal-fired power generation will peak in 2026
Wind and solar plants will start to undercut existing coal plants
By 2040, 34% of electricity will come from wind and solar and the levelized cost of offshore wind (i.e. the average total cost to build and operate over its lifetime) will decline by 71%
By 2040, rooftop solar will account for as much as 24% of electricity generation in Australia, 20% in Brazil, 15% in Germany, 12% in Japan, and 5% in the US and India
Renewables will get $7.4 trillion in new global power plant investment between now and 2040
Wind and solar will make up nearly half of the world's installed generation capacity by 2040

The report also notes that while greenhouse-gas emissions from the global power sector will likely peak in 2026, the rate of decline (approximately 1%) is not nearly enough to battle climate change in a serious way. By 2040, the world needs an additional $5.3 trillion in renewable energy to stop the planet from warming two degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial levels — which scientists say is the point of no return for runaway climate change.

Despite President Trump's plans to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement, the report suggests that no one can stop global growth of renewable energy.

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