Emerging countries set for renewable energy explosion by 2020

15 January 2013 – Driven primarily by the rapidly expanding economies of China and India, renewable energy in emerging countries is expected to increase dramatically by the end of the decade, says business intelligence provider GlobalData. According to the company’s latest report, India, Mexico, China, South Africa, Russia, Brazil and Indonesia will more than triple their combined renewable energy installed capacity in the near future, from an estimated 127 GW in 2012 to 403 GW by 2020, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.1%.

Of these seven countries, China is expected to be the largest contributor, thanks to an extremely healthy wind energy sector. In China, wind energy alone is expected to jump from a 2011 installed capacity of 62 GW to 195 GW in 2020, accounting for the majority of the country’s predicted total renewable capacity of 274 GW.

Renewable energy will also show strong growth in India, states GlobalData. With the country moving to take advantage of its huge water, solar, biomass and biofuel resources, the sector’s total installed capacity is forecast to climb at a CAGR of 15.5%, reaching 78 GW by the end of the decade from 20 GW in 2011.

Of the seven emerging nations evaluated, the BRIC nations of Brazil, Russia, India and China accounted for 94.5% of the total installed renewable capacity for 2011.In terms of power consumption, all seven nations are expected to increase their combined share of the global amount from 36% in 2011 to 42% in 2020.