The last decade has led to a breakthrough in renewable energy, with continuous market growth. Since 2013 every second new build power plant has been based on renewable energy technologies. Table 4 shows the market developments of all renewable energy sources since 2004. The development of annual market volumes also documents the growing manufacturing capacities and increased work force that leads to economies of scale and reduced costs. These parameters are vital to project market sizes by technology into the future. Thus, the analyses of the renewable industries capacities for 2020, 2030 and beyond must take historical experiences into account.
From the REN21 report “Renewables Global Futures Report: Great debates towards 100% renewable energy”.