91视频

By Isabella O鈥橫alley, Jennifer McDermott, and Alexa St. John

The Associated Press

Led by solar, renewable energy developments were installed at 鈥榖reakneck speed鈥� in 2023. Some of that growth is because clean energy is often now the least expensive. Nations also adopted policies that support renewables, some citing energy security concerns, according to the International Energy Agency. These factors countered high interest rates and persistent challenges in acquiring materials and components in many places.

The IEA鈥檚 projections for 2023 were for the world to gain more than 440 gigawatts of renewable energy 鈥� more than the entire installed power capacity of Germany and Spain together.

Here鈥檚 a look at the past year in solar, wind and batteries.

Another banner year for solar

China, Europe, and the U.S. each set solar installation records for a single year, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.

China鈥檚 additions dwarfed those of all other countries, at somewhere between 180 and 230 gigawatts, depending on some projects. Europe added 58 gigawatts.

Solar is now the cheapest form of electricity in most countries. Solar panel prices fell a whopping 40 percent to 53 percent in Europe between December 2022 and November 2023 and are now at record lows.

鈥淧articularly in Europe, it鈥檚 been really at breakneck speed of scaling up the deployment,鈥� said Michael Taylor, senior analyst at IRENA.

When the final numbers for 2023 are in, solar energy is expected to surpass hydropower in total capacity globally, but hydropower will still generate more for some time because it can produce around the clock.

In the United States, California continues to have the most solar energy, followed by Texas, Florida, North Carolina, and Arizona.

Both state and聽federal incentives聽had a large influence on U.S. solar growth, said Daniel Bresette, president of the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, an education and policy nonprofit.

Despite solar鈥檚 success in 2023, there are hurdles. There has been a shortage of transformers, Bresette said, while interest rates have risen.

In the U.S., solar manufacturing grew as well.

鈥淲e have seen the impact of the聽Inflation Reduction Act聽in terms of fueling investments … more than 60 solar manufacturing facilities were announced over the past year,鈥� said Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association.

Challenges for wind energy

The world in 2023 added enough wind energy to power nearly 80 million homes, making it a record year.

As with solar, most of the growth, or more than 58 gigawatts, occurred in China, according to research from Wood Mackenzie. China is on track to surpass its ambitious 2030 target of 1,200 gigawatts of utility-scale solar and wind power capacity five years ahead of schedule if planned projects are all built, the Global Energy Monitor said.

China was one of the few growing markets this year for wind, the Global Wind Energy Council said. Faster permitting and other improvements in key markets such as Germany and India also helped add more wind energy. But installations were down in Europe by 6 percent year over year, Wood Mackenzie said.

Short-term challenges such as high inflation, rising interest rates and increased costs of building materials forced some ocean wind developers to renegotiate or even cancel project contracts and some land-based wind developers to delay projects to 2024 or 2025.

The economic headwinds came at a difficult time for the聽nascent U.S. offshore wind industry聽as it tries to launch the nation鈥檚 first commercial-scale offshore wind farms. Construction began in 2023 on two that are aiming to open early this year. One of the sites is already聽sending electricity to the U.S. grid. Large offshore wind farms have been making electricity for three decades in Europe, and more recently in Asia.

After years of record growth, the industry group American Clean Power expected less land-based wind added in the U.S. in 2023 鈥� about enough to power 2.7 million to 3 million homes. The group says developers are taking advantage of new tax credits passed last year in the Inflation Reduction Act, but it takes years to bring the projects online. There has been $383 billion in announced clean energy investments since passage of the IRA, it said.

鈥淲e鈥檙e talking about 2023 essentially as a lower performance year, but in the grand scheme of things, 8 to 9 gigawatts is still a number to get excited about,鈥� said John Hensley, ACP鈥檚 vice president for research and analytics. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a lot of new clean energy that鈥檚 being added to the grid.鈥�

Globally the wind build-out was slower last year. The top three markets were still China, the United States and Germany for wind energy produced on land, and China, the United Kingdom and Germany for offshore.

The analysts are predicting that the global industry will rebound in 2024 and make nearly 12 percent more wind energy available worldwide.

Massive year for batteries

Amid an ongoing push to make transportation less damaging to the climate, the electric vehicle trend accelerated globally in 2023, when one in five cars sold were聽expected to be electric, according to the International Energy Agency. That meant the year was also strong for batteries.

More than $43.4 billion was spent on battery manufacturing and battery recycling just in the U.S., thanks largely to the Inflation Reduction Act, according to Atlas Public Policy. That put the U.S. on a more level playing field with Europe, but still behind battery powerhouse China.

As for large battery factories, called gigafactories, the U.S. and Europe each had 38 in the works by late November, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. But China had 295 in the works.

The industry continued to explore different ways of making batteries without depending so much on harmful materials, as well as ways of making components more sustainable, and the battery recycling industry made headway, experts said.

The cost of key battery raw materials, including lithium, also dropped significantly, Benchmark senior analyst Evan Hartley said.

鈥淭he battery cost is now on that trajectory that most Americans will be able to afford an EV,鈥� said Paul Braun, a University of Illinois professor of materials science and engineering.

2023 wasn鈥檛 easy for the U.S. industry. A massive Panasonic battery facility in Kansas had聽energy challenges. Toyota needs to shore up a talent pool for its site in North Carolina. Health and safety violations were found at a聽joint venture plant聽between General Motors Co. and LG Energy Solution in Ohio. The list goes on.

Regardless of the region, roadblocks remain in minerals, responsible supply chains, and the build-out of charging infrastructure.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 going to be the next agenda item,鈥� said John Eichberger, executive director of the Transportation Energy Institute.

But experts are optimistic that battery growth across the globe will continue.

鈥淭he story of batteries in the U.S. in small is the story of batteries globally in 2023 at large,鈥� said Daan Walter, principal in the strategy team at the Rocky Mountain Institute, a sustainability research group, 鈥渁nd how momentous this shift in 2023 has been.鈥�