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International Energy Agency: Renewable energy sources have reduced fossil fuel imports for more than 100 countries News | Environmental business
He – she He says Countries such as the UK, Germany and Chile have reduced their need for imported coal and gas by about a third since 2010, mainly through building wind and solar power.
Denmark reduced its dependence on fossil fuel imports by about half during the same period.
The renewed expansion allowed these countries to avoid importing 700 million tons of coal and 400 billion cubic meters of gas collectively in 2023, equivalent to about 10% of global consumption.
By doing so, fuel-importing countries saved more than US$1.3 trillion between 2010 and 2023 that would have been spent on fossil fuels from abroad.
Low dependence
International Energy Agency Renewable energy 2025 The report identifies the benefits of deploying renewable energy for electricity systems in countries importing fossil fuels.
It compares recent trends in renewable energy expansion to an alternative “low renewables” scenario, in which this growth does not occur.
In this paradoxical reality, fuel-importing countries stopped building wind, solar, and other renewable energy projects not related to hydropower after 2010.
In fact, the world added about 2,500 gigawatts of such projects between 2010 and 2023, according to the International Energy Agency, more than total electricity production. Generation capacity For the European Union and the United States in 2023, from all sources. Nearly 80 percent of this new renewable capacity was built in countries that rely on coal and gas imports to generate electricity.
The chart below shows how 31 of these countries were able to significantly reduce their dependence on imported fossil fuels over a 13-year period, as a result of expanding their supplies of wind, solar and other renewable energy sources. All of these countries are net importers of coal and gas.
Share of national electricity supply dependent on imported fossil fuels in 2023, actual (left) and in the IEA’s “low renewables” scenario (right), for 31 net coal and gas importing countries. source: International Energy Agency.
In total, the IEA identified 107 countries that have reduced their reliance on fossil fuel imports for electricity generation, to some extent due to the deployment of renewable energy sources other than hydropower.
Among these countries, 38 countries reduced their dependence on electricity from imported coal and gas by more than 10 percentage points, and eight countries saw that share decrease by more than 30 percentage points.
Security and flexibility
The IEA asserts that renewable energy sources “inherently enhance the security of energy supply,” because they generate electricity domestically, while also “improving economic resilience” in countries importing fossil fuels.
This is especially true for countries with low or diminish Local energy resources.
The agency indicates Energy crisis The crisis was exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which exposed EU importers to soaring fossil fuel prices.
Bulgaria, Romania and Finland – which have historically relied on Russian gas to generate electricity – have all succeeded in reducing their dependence on imports to near zero in recent years by building up renewable energy sources.
In the United Kingdom, where there has been an increase opposition As for renewables from right-wing political parties, the International Energy Agency says reliance on electricity generated from imported fossil fuels has fallen from 45 percent to less than 25 percent in a decade, thanks primarily to the growth of wind and solar power.
Without these technologies UK The International Energy Agency says China will now need to import fossil fuels to supply nearly 60 percent of its electricity needs.
Other major economies, in particular China The EU and EU would also have come to rely on an increasing share of coal and gas from abroad, if they did not expand renewable energy sources.
The IEA notes that, as well as increasing the need for fossil fuel imports from other countries, converting renewable energy sources to fossil fuels will require much higher energy use “due to lower (fossil fuel) conversion efficiency.” The report shows that every gigawatt-hour of renewable energy produced has avoided the need for 2-3 gigawatt-hours of fossil fuels.
Finally, the IEA notes that spending on renewables rather than imported fossil fuels maintains more investment in local economies and supports local jobs.
This story was published with permission from Carbon Brief.
https://www.eco-business.com/news/iea-renewables-have-cut-fossil-fuel-imports-for-more-than-100-countries/
