The improvement of a nation’s economy can be greatly aided by conventional energy sources based on coal, gas, and oil, but the negative environmental effects of these resources is forcing the governments and people to use them in moderation, thereby shifting the focus to renewable energy sources.

Renewable energy sources are thought of as environmentally friendly due to their low or non-existent emissions of harmful gases like carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, etc. In the near future, these resources will be crucial in power generation as they allow consistent production of usable energy.

At present, only 15-20 per cent of the world’s energy is produced using various renewable energy sources, including hydropower, solar, ocean energy, biomass, biofuel, wind, and geothermal. On the other hand, the greater need for energy due to the rapidly expanding population is expected to increase the use of fossil fuels like gas, coal, and oil. This will lead to unsustainable situations such as depletion of fossil fuels, environmental and geographic conflicts, the greenhouse effect, global warming, and fluctuating fuel prices.

While renewable energy is becoming more affordable due to technological advances, its adoption on a larger scale is still distant.

Bangladesh

Bangladesh is ranked as the 41st most desirable market1 overall by Global Climate Scope for investments in renewable energy. Experience is the area where the nation is most deprived. According to the renewable energy policy of Bangladesh, 10% of the total electricity2 has to be generated by renewable energy sources. At present, solar energy accounts for 63 per cent of the total renewable energy generated in the country, followed by hydropower at 36.4 per cent, and a small amount of biogas, biomass and wind energy.

However, Bangladesh’s capacity for renewable energy promises to have a bright future given the strong fundamentals and the tremendous prospects. Additionally, there are promising investment opportunities, which is important. Considering the country’s current situation, individuals who made investments in its switch to renewable energy will be well-positioned to profit once the boom starts.

The only reliable renewable energy source that can be used on a wide basis is solar energy. With local and foreign investments being made in grid-connected utility size solar parks and industrial rooftop projects, this anticipation is proving to be accurate. More than 1,000 MW of utility-scale solar parks and 500 MW of commercial/industrial rooftop solar PV projects under the net metering programme are on the horizon, according to the chairman of Sustainable And Renewable Energy Development Authority (SREDA), a Bangladesh government agency under the ministry of power, energy and mineral resources, responsible for increasing renewable energy production in Bangladesh.

Even though solar and wind power still make up a very small portion of the country’s energy mix, they have a huge potential for producing electricity. According to a survey3 on the technological capacity for renewable energy sources, Bangladesh could install up to 150 GW of wind energy and 156 GW of utility-scale solar power.

Additionally, Bangladesh’s estimated 1,500 km2 of ponds provide a significant opportunity for floating solar. Estimates indicate that even using only a third of the ponds for solar systems may produce 15 GW. In Bangladesh, there are 2,500 km2 of shallow water. 25 GW would be produced if floating solar was put in just 10 per cent of these places. Large lakes like the Kaptai and pockets of rivers with a length of thousands of kilometres might contribute another 20 GW.

Bangladesh had 22,066 MW of built grid-connected capacity as of January 2022, according to the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB). Only 2.08 per cent of the installed capacity that is connected to the grid is made up of renewable energy, and 1.04 per cent of that is hydropower, whose generation has been constant since 1967. Off-grid solar accounts for a sizable chunk of the claimed 543 MW of solar power; grid-tied solar parks only contribute 196 MW.

The following are the barriers to Bangladesh using more renewable energy:

•   Lack of available land: The acute lack of available land is the single biggest obstacle to the large-scale adoption of solar PV electricity4. It is because of two reasons: first, regulation completely prohibits the use of agricultural land for solar projects, and second due to the extreme land fragmentation in Bangladesh, it is very challenging to obtain continuous land to build even a 50 MW solar park without infringing on agricultural land. As a result, rather than outright prohibiting it, a policy may be created that allows a specific percentage of agricultural land, say 25 per cent of the total land area, for a single solar park, up to a maximum of 200 acres per project.

If only one per cent of Bangladesh’s total agricultural land is used to build solar power facilities with a combined capacity of about 50,000 MW, the electricity generated from the same would be almost 82,000 GWh, which is greater than the total consumption in 2020 using the average capacity factor of 4.5 hours per day for Bangladesh. Moreover, the financial benefits will exceed five times when the cost of fuel saved is contrasted with the output of even three crops per acre of land. By avoiding spoilage brought on by a shortage of cold storage and other processing facilities, the agricultural yield lost by the one per cent of land can be readily made up.

•   Limited wind potential: Experts agree that Bangladesh’s wind potential is limited, especially for onshore wind. The offshore potential is uncertain, despite unsubstantiated assertions of significant potential. Making a financial determination on this is difficult in the absence of comprehensive environmental and technical investment-grade studies on the potential for offshore wind.

•   Lack of supply-side information: Another major obstacle to advancing the use of renewable energy in Bangladesh is a lack of supply-side information. For Bangladesh to fully appreciate the potential of renewable energy, there is a lack of resource potential and well-developed wind maps, site-specific ground data, technical specifications, and cost-effectiveness information. Additionally, there isn’t a single hub for information. The information is dispersed among government agencies, private businesses, and R&D institutions.

Germany

According to Renewables 2022 Global Status Report:

•   Germany is amongst three out of 47 countries in Europe with intermediary renewable energy targets in 2030 (30 per cent) and 2040 (45 per cent), with the most recent progress at 16.4 per cent in 2020.

•   Germany has a three times higher share of variable renewables in its electricity production than the global average of 10 per cent (33 per cent in Germany).

•   The German government announced its national hydrogen strategy in 2020, It expects 90 to 114 TWh of demand be met by H2 in 2030.

•   Germany has a binding phase-out target of coal mining by 2030 at the latest, putting it amongst 25 other national and subnational governments to ban fossil fuels and move to 100 per cent renewable power by 2040.

According to preliminary figures issued by energy industry association BDEW-German Association of Energy and Water Industries and research institution Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Warttemberg (ZSW), renewable energy sources supplied about half of Germany's electricity in the first six months of 2022. 49 percent of the electricity demand was met by solar panels, wind turbines, biogas plants, and other installations, six percentage points more than during the same period the prior year.

Solar panels grew their market share from 10 to 12 per cent5 and wind turbines, the most significant renewable energy source, from 17 to 21 per cent, although overall power consumption in the nation marginally decreased to 281 billion kWh. 17 billion kWh of the 139 billion kWh produced by renewable energy sources were exported.

Due to planned significant cost reductions and the fact that offshore wind power often offers high load factors for a variable renewable energy source, offshore wind power generation is expected to play a significant role in Germany’s future power system.

The following are the barriers to Germany using more renewable energy:

•   Costs of breakthrough technologies: New energy storage ideas and breakthrough technologies, particularly those involving hydrogen, are frequently lauded as being essential components of the low-carbon transition. Several studies heavily rely on these upcoming technologies to minimise emissions, particularly when extremely high degrees of decarbonisation are desired. As a result, not only are their anticipated costs highly unknown, but they are also very significant. In relation to the underlying assumptions, they vary depending on the technology.

•   Growth rate of renewables: The maximum annual entrance of renewable energy sources into the power system is another area of uncertainty. There is frequent contention that there is a reasonable maximum that can be implemented without endangering grid stability.

•   Rate of transmission grid expansion:  There is a significant and ongoing discussion in Germany over the need for transmission system expansions when adding more renewable energy sources to the grid. Many advocate for the extension of north-south transmission lines because the majority of renewable energy potentials, particularly offshore wind, are in northern Germany while the majority of the country’s (industrial) energy demand is in the south.

•   Building renovation rate: The rate of building renovation is one of the pillars of lowering GHG emissions in the construction industry since better insulation significantly reduces the energy needed for space heating. However, only approximately one per cent of the buildings in Germany undergo renovations each year, which is significantly below the amount advised by the majority of research to meet any significant climate target. Therefore, in this sensitive area, it is possible to examine how changing the rate of renovations may affect household energy demand.

India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised to increase India’s renewable energy generation capability to 500 GW and meet 50 per cent of the nation’s energy demand using renewable sources by 2030 at the COP 26 Summit in Glasgow in November 20216.

When it comes to renewable energy, India faces three major challenges:

(1) How to increase reliable energy access and use, while keeping consumer costs low and DISCOMs’ finances stable;

(2) How to simultaneously integrate rising shares of renewable energy in a safe and trustworthy manner; and

(3) How to cut emissions to accomplish ambitious social and climate goals while achieving economic goals.

In India, using renewable energy (RE) is primarily done to advance economic growth, increase energy security, increase access to electricity, and slow down climate change. However, due to strong government support and the increasingly favourable economic environment, the country is becoming one of the top leaders for renewable energy in the world. The government has created liberal rules, programmes, and an atmosphere to entice international investment and quickly advance the nation in the renewable energy sector.

The following are the barriers to India using more renewable energy:

•   Poor financial standing of power distribution firms: The poor financial standing of power distribution firms (DISCOMs), the majority of which are owned by state governments, represents the biggest obstacle to further scaling up renewable energy in India. These DISCOMs purchase the entire renewable energy produced in the country, but their payment cycles are incredibly lengthy and unsustainable. For example, DISCOMs delayed paying power generators a total of ₹110,000 crore in December 2020 (This pertains to all power generated, not just RE power). The majority of RE projects report delays of between 6 and 18 months.

•   Transmission grid's functioning becomes more technically difficult: Another problem is that as the percentage of renewable energy increases, the transmission grid’s functioning becomes more technically difficult due to variations in RE power generation brought on by weather. The capacity of RE power was low until recently, but now that RE projects are providing so much power, they frequently need to restrict or stop generation to keep the grid running properly. Wind and solar energy forecasting and planning have only recently become much more substantial and relevant. As a result, grid operations might be better structured, and a forecast for RE power output over the following 24 hours might be formed.

•   Lack of adequate transmission infrastructure: The lack of adequate transmission infrastructure in the nation has also proven to be a challenge, especially for RE projects that are usually located in remote rural areas far from major cities and consumption centres. As an illustration, ambitious plans to build massive solar facilities in Leh were recently scrapped due to a lack of suitable transmission infrastructure. The ambitious Green Energy Corridor7 programme, which was started in 2013 to update the system to enable RE capacity, has faced many obstacles, including difficulties obtaining financing and property.

•   Overbuilding coal capacity: More recently, due in part to overbuilding coal capacity over the past 10 years in response to excessively optimistic predictions of demand growth, India has produced more electricity than it consumes. As a result, distribution companies have declined to sign fresh contracts to buy the renewable energy that is projected to join the grid as additional projects become up and running. As a result of unsigned power purchase agreements, an estimated 19,000 MW of capacity is still in the planning stages. This lowers investor confidence and interest in further auctions.

Moving toward digital metres and smart houses has proven to be beneficial for minimising interoperability and improving consumer choice in the residential sector. The rooftop solar power supply is an additional system that may be used to support the development of renewable energy. India produces solar energy through massive facilities that are situated on the ground, unlike many of the biggest solar-powered nations, which have mostly relied on rooftop installation. This is about to change because rising land prices will make it possible for rooftop solar in India to work with the new system.

Vietnam

Vietnam is a dynamic emerging economy with almost 100 million people, according to The National Bureau of Asian Research. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the country used to experience 6-7 per cent of annual GDP growth8, resulting in a dramatic rise in energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions.

According to an essay from Clean EDGE Asia9, the first-ever national development strategy for renewable energy was unveiled by the government in 2015, with the goal of having 32 per cent of all primary supplies and electricity generated by renewable sources by 2030.

Given the forecasts for continuously high economic growth until 2030, rising energy demand will lead to severe power shortages if left unaddressed.

Hydropower has been a clean, stable, and reliable source of energy for Vietnam, according to the APEC Energy Working Group’s Expert Group on Energy Data and Analysis. However, the share of hydropower in the country’s power mix has been shrinking (from 37 per cent in 2019 to 30 per cent in 2020) due to saturation. Reservoir capacity constraints mean that hydropower is unable to meet growing demand. Fossil fuels (coal, gas, and oil) now contribute around half of the generation mix. Coal has been the cheapest and most available source of supply, but Vietnam has become increasingly reliant on imports. Other renewables, including small hydropower, solar, wind, and biomass, account for only 16 per cent of power generation.

The following are the barriers to Vietnam using more renewable energy:

•   Economic/financial barriers: As in other developing countries, economic and financial issues appear crucial for the development of RE in Vietnam. Small hydropower plants could not be widely implemented mainly due to a lack of capital. High electricity production costs (compared to those for conventional fossil fuels) are considered to be a major barrier preventing the utilisation of geothermal power. The extra costs preventing the widespread adoption of renewables in the Vietnamese power sector arise as a result of difficult geography, the weak financial and managerial capabilities of investors and project developers, the poor qualifications of commercial banks, an inadequate electricity pricing system, and a deficiency in the government’s policies and incentives.

•   Manipulation of prices: Another economic barrier is the manipulation of the prices of fossil fuels and electricity, which can make renewable resources less attractive to investors and independent power producers in Vietnam. As a result of subsidised prices for fossil fuels and electricity, and without a nation-wide cost sharing system, the investment rates for renewable resource projects are generally still much higher than fossil fuel prices and electricity costs.

•   Awareness and information barriers: The potential positive side benefits of renewables, including small hydropower and geothermal energy, have not yet been systematically estimated with any precision. Information on local markets and physical potentials is crucial to project developers, but this information is often unavailable. Vietnam’s database on the potential of renewable energy resources is limited, scattered, dispersed, and infrequently updated, creating difficulties for developers in analysing and evaluating the feasibility of their projects.

•   Institutional barriers: There is no clear division of authority between units functioning at the state level, such as EVN (the largest power company in Vietnam) and provincial and local authorities when it comes to exploiting and developing renewable resources for electricity production. For example, some renewable resource power stations were constructed and put into service by the government, but the operation and maintenance responsibilities of the relevant parties remained unclear. Provincial and local units did not have the capacity nor the human resources to manage and maintain the long-term operations of the plants. While EVN is capable of helping, local-level actors are unlikely to request this help because there are no adequate incentives for their staff to work in these remote locations for long periods of time. No one wants responsibility for the operation of the plants due to insufficient human resources, and projects continue to be delayed as a result.

•   Political and regulatory barriers: To date, the government of Vietnam has not set up clear or specific policy and regulatory frameworks for clean energy development. The country is still taking its first steps toward drafting an overall development plan for renewables usage. There is a lack of national funding or other appropriate incentive mechanisms to promote cleaner electricity usage through R&D, demonstration, implementation, and utilisation. Supportive policy measures related to small power purchasing agreements, feed-in tariffs, pricing reflective of clean energy’s extra benefits, cost sharing systems, etc need to be strategically included in the national regulatory framework to meet the needs of financiers and developers of on-grid renewables projects.

China

When it comes to renewable energy, China is a global leader both in terms of investment and production as a result of government subsidies and more than a decade of intense corporate competition. The German government, in particular, gave incentives and subsidies that helped China’s solar industry get off the ground.

It was following the global financial crisis of 2008 that the Chinese government decided to invest in the local development of alternative energy sources. The Chinese government set targets for wind and solar capacity, gave credit lines to the private businesses that mostly dominate the sectors, and implemented subsidies to help these clean energy sources compete with less expensive coal-generated power. Further, the government has been moving swiftly to develop and put into place economically sensible energy policies, such as a national cap-and-trade programme, in order to achieve its ambitious goal.

In the last three Five Year Plans (FYPs), China has a history of exceeding its development goals for renewable energy. The majority of the quantitative goals for sector development have outperformed expectations since China first included a renewable energy goal in its energy plan during the 11th FYP period, especially the growth targets for wind and solar total capacity.

The country may produce enough wind and solar power to meet its emissions peak earlier than anticipated, according to China’s 14th FYP (2021-25), while more coal investments cast doubt on this assertion. China’s pledge to generate 25 per cent of its energy from non-fossil sources by 2030 is upheld by the 14FYP, which was released earlier this year. The new plan enhances the ambition of China’s transition to renewable energy, even if it differs dramatically from its predecessor in some key areas, such as the removal of required generation capacity increase targets.

It is projected that China will continue to witness strong growth in renewable installation despite the lack of capacity goals set for the end of 2025. The forecast suggests that China would grow its annual wind and solar producing capacity by an average of 100-110 gigawatts if its national power consumption rises at a CAGR of 4.7 per cent10 over the following four years (2022-25). However, if combined, corporate and provincial end-2025 plans would suggest expanding capacity faster.

Ending Note

The industry for renewable energy faces numerous difficulties globally. Its wider global acceptance is hindered by political pressures, governmental regulations, corporate influence, outdated infrastructure, a shortage of suitable battery storage, and the current state of the industry.

However, switching to renewable energy sources and relying less on fossil fuels is a trustworthy strategy to lessen the effects of climate change. These days, new clean energy technologies are bringing down costs and assisting in the transition of economies away from fossil fuels, although renewables were historically a more expensive option.

But more work needs to be done globally to establish that renewable energy technologies are major players in the climate change mitigation process. The economic arguments in support of cost-competitive and accessible clean technologies are now stronger, and so is the case for energy security. The alignment of economic, climatic, and security agendas is expected to result in a better outcome for people and the planet.