1TW of solar energy has been installed globally, 6% of the world’s total energy consumption

Despite promising European efforts to ramp up PV production, the East keeps dominating the sector in terms of both demand and panel manufacturing. Ann Mettler, VP of Breakthrough Energy warns that “Europe risks becoming an incubator for the world that does not manifest its achievements in scale[...]in solar, we were an early leader, invested huge amounts into R&D, but today there is not sufficient production.”

Eastern regions have one critical advantage; that of cost. Christoph Inglin from Energetix tells us that “the cost of installing solar panels in the U.S. is twice what it is in Singapore.” Aided by this major advantage, the 700 square kilometer nation aims to deploy at least 2 gigawatt-peak (GWP) of solar energy by 2030, which is equivalent to powering 350,000 households a year.

Permitting issues and a lack of harmonized policy have been particularly problematic for the development of projects in the wind sector. Even in countries at the forefront of the wind energy industry, permits may take years to be approved, if they are at all. CEO of Swedish wind energy developer OX2, Paul Stormoen, claims that “at times we feel like we are hitting a wall when it comes to getting our projects approved and, all in all, it seems like old environmental laws are hurting the environment more than helping it.” Permitting remains a bottleneck, and yet, wind energy production has increased at an astonishing rate in the past few decades. In 1997, installed wind capacity worldwide was 7.5 GW; in 2021, it was over 800 GW, which equates to a growth of more than 100 times in 24 years.