Strengthening grids to power the global energy transition

In an exclusive interview, IRENA Deputy Director General Gauri Singh spoke to Energy Connects on the ambitious global goal of tripling renewable energy and doubling energy efficiency by 2030, the priorities for the industry to stay on track with the 1.5C climate goal, how in most parts of the world renewables is now the cheapest source of energy, and IRENA’s expectations from the World Utilities Congress.

As an agency that closely monitors the energy industry, what are your thoughts on the pace of progress for the global energy transition?

What happened at COP28 in Dubai was a landmark decision to triple renewable energy and doubling energy efficiency by 2030, which was agreed upon by more than 130 countries. It was a very important moment for the renewable energy sector because there were very clear goals set out by the countries and they were willing to be monitored on that.

In 2024, we saw 585GW of renewables capacity getting deployed on the ground. That shows you that renewables are now the cheapest source of energy in most geographies. But despite such encouraging progress, we may still not be able to reach our goal of tripling renewables by 2030. In terms of investment needs, while about US$570 billion got invested in renewables in 2023, we do need almost three times that amount to get to about 1,000GW of renewables deployed on the ground every year from this year to 2030 if we are going to stay on target for 1.5 degrees.

What kind of action would you advocate to ensure that the industry stays on track with this target of tripling renewables capacity by 2030?

When the countries decided to come up with this very historical consensus, the UAE Consensus, IRENA was given the mandate of being the custodian of tracking progress. Our approach has been to put together data and provide analysis that’s clearly backed by evidence to countries at pre-COPs every year. For example, this year, we would be coming out with a second report on tracking progress at the pre-COP in Brazil. We do see currently that in some technologies like the solar PV, we seem to be making a fair amount of progress. It’s on track, but a lot more effort needs to be made on both onshore and offshore wind as well as other technologies.

In terms of priorities, we would want the countries to be really thinking about getting more electrification in the end-use sectors like transport. Strengthening the grid infrastructure, getting the utilities to plan ahead to make sure that there’s flexibility in the grids that can bring in decentralised generation injected into the grid through renewables, and also their digitisation and the use of AI, that’s very critical. And without energy efficiency going hand in hand, we will not be able to see the kind of results that we want to see by the end of this decade.

One of the factors that often comes up is also the cost. From your viewpoint, how can countries and companies overcome this challenge?

This is really one of the myths that needs to be broken. This is a narrative that needs to be reshaped about how much renewables cost. In most geographies, renewables are now the cheapest source of energy. In 2023, solar PV costs fell by about 12%. Meanwhile, the cost of onshore wind also fell by about 3% and offshore wind fell by about 7%. More importantly, we also saw a very sharp decline for storage – where the cost declined by almost 90%.

So, I think renewables right now are in a very good space where it’s a strong business case, which is why you’re seeing a growth in the deployment year to year – because it’s good for the utilities, it’s good for the customers, and it’s of course very good for the climate.

I think an excellent platform to advance that discussion further will be the World Utilities Congress in May. And IRENA is a big part of that. What are you looking forward to?

The World Utilities Congress comes at a crucial time, with industry challenges and shifting geopolitics impacting the sector. It’s an opportunity for utilities to reaffirm their commitment to net zero. IRENA will showcase its progress and the impact of the Utilities for Net Zero Alliance (UNEZA), where TAQA plays a key role. As UNEZA’s secretariat, IRENA is driving efforts forward. Notably, 54 UNEZA partners have pledged US$117 billion annually to grids and renewables, aiming to build or upgrade 80 million km of grids by 2040. This edition of the World Utilities Congress will highlight UNEZA’s strength and invite more utilities to join the effort.