The 10th Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue (BETD) started today with opening statements by German Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Robert Habeck. The German Government has hosted the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue since 2015 and it is organized in cooperation between the German Renewable Energy Federation (BEE), the German Solar Association (BSW-Solar), the German Energy Agency (dena) and eclareon.
In her remarks, Annalena Baerbock said “Last year, the world installed 50 per cent more renewable energy than in the previous year. And with the most recent Climate Change Conference in Dubai it has become clear that the age of fossil fuels is nearing its end. What’s key now is seeing who is in the lead in economic and technological terms and ensuring that the expansion of renewables takes place in a fair and just way. Because an estimated 600 million people in Africa alone still have no access to electricity. If we are to be able to prevent the worst effects of the climate crisis, we need an absolute explosion in global investment in clean energy. While the crises keep us on alert, an awareness of the urgency of climate action unites us across all borders. It is time for the world at long last to ditch the ballast of fossil fuels in order to unleash the economic potential of renewables.”
Robert Habeck went on to say “Since the first BETD was held in 2015, the global energy transition has come a long way. And we too have made our contribution. In Germany, the share of renewables in the electricity mix has increased to over 50% during this period. And we are picking up the pace: By 2030, our goal is to reach a share of 80% – and we are on course to meet that target. The same applies to the hydrogen ramp-up and the transformation of the economy. Of course we cannot afford to let up in our efforts – neither here at home nor at international level. With the ambitious global targets set at the COP28 in Dubai regarding renewables, energy efficiency and the exit from fossil fuels, the international community has set the pace that we will have to meet in the coming years.”
President of the German Renewable Energy Federation (Bundesverband Erneuerbare Energie e.V., BEE), Dr. Simone Peter said in her address “The expansion of renewables in Germany is once again taking on a significant dynamic, especially in the areas of photovoltaics and wind power. With a share of 52% of gross electricity supply, these technologies are system-defining and have an increasingly cross-sectoral impact. This brings us to the next stage in the development of the energy transition. The adaptation to a new electricity market design, an improved network infrastructure and a flexibly controllable back-up system of biomass, hydropower, geothermal energy, storage systems and sector coupling.”
Under the motto “Accelerating the Global Energy Transition”, the focus of this year’s conference is on strategies for reaching the necessary tripling of new global renewables capacity. International Renewable Energy Agency’s (IRENA’s) special report “Tracking COP28 outcomes: Tripling renewable capacity by 2030” was presented at BETD and it highlights that the world is not on target when it comes to the necessary expansion of renewable energy globally, even with the record-breaking capacity additions taking place. For instance, in 2023, 473 GW of renewable energy was installed worldwide. Although impressive, it falls significantly short of the required 1,000 GW of capacity additions every year until 2030.
Other important focus areas of the conference included addressing financing gaps in various markets. A key point raised by speakers from the African countries was lack of access to finance for renewable energy projects especially as millions of people are still without electricity in the continent. Most experts agreed that proper policy and regulatory frameworks are important to de-risk finance for long-term investments in renewable energy projects. Meanwhile, promoting local financing is also expected to help reduce the cost of capital and improve renewable energy financing scenario in many emerging renewable energy markets.
Green hydrogen, a promising decarbonisation solution for hard-to-abate sectors, remained a key discussion point across various different sessions. Most experts agreed that creation of demand is required to bring down the cost of green hydrogen and make these projects bankable for investors. While there is a significant potential for creation of a green hydrogen market, the definitions and standards need to be fine-tuned and policymakers need to focus on creating sustainable business models and offtake arrangements to improve the feasibility of these projects.
As renewable energy becomes a greater part of the overall energy mix in various countries, there is now focus on proper integration techniques to ensure grid stability, and experts highlighted this in various sessions. Permitting and grid concerns still remain a major issue in many emerging as well as mature renewable energy markets, and ensuring availability of adequate and robust transmission systems remains a key criteria for advancing renewable energy adoption. Meanwhile, the focus is now also moving towards incorporating energy storage to manage intermittent renewable energy systems and ensuring that grids remain stable.
With large business and corporates responsible for a large chunk of emissions, there was significant discussion around decarbonising industries and other commercial establishments. The good news is that owing to attractive cost economics of renewables, many business houses across the world are already switching to green power and procuring significant volumes of renewables. However, in a few markets, there are certain regulatory hurdles that impede this transition and it is imperative that governments and policy makers remove these barriers for an inclusive transition to clean energy across all sectors.
As renewable energy continues to grow at a rapid pace globally, there are concerns around ensuring secure and sustainable supply chains as evident from the discussion. In the current geopolitical climate, most economies are focusing on scaling up their own manufacturing capabilities and diversifying their supply chain routes. While some markets are ahead of the curve and already have enabling policies in place, others have a long way ahead in this respect.
Finally, just energy transition is absolutely critical for sustainable development of renewable energy globally and this was re-iterated across many sessions by many experts. Thus, it is important to include all communities in the dialogue and promote gender equity in the clean energy space for inclusive growth of the renewable energy sector globally.
