Despite renewable energy now accounting for 30 per cent of global electricity, increasing the share of renewables is not enough to shift the energy system away from fossil fuels, and according to REN21's latest report there is an urgent need for improvements in grid distribution, energy storage, and system flexibility to handle the variability of wind and solar power.

While expanding renewable energy generation is crucial, REN21 emphasises that it alone is not enough to transition to a fully renewable energy system. It is necessary to include transmission and distribution infrastructure, storage, flexibility solutions, and all end-use sectors in energy planning.

The key findings from REN21’s latest Renewables 2024 Global Status Report module, Renewable Energy Systems and Infrastructure, highlight recent developments including the $310 bn spent in 2023 on the global grid, a five per cent rise on the previous year. Yet this remains only half of the annual amount needed to achieve 100 per cent renewable electricity.

By the end of 2022, 1.5TW of renewable energy projects were delayed due to grid connection issues, while many regions saw renewable generation curtailed due to capacity constraints.

“Grids are the backbone of our electricity systems, yet they often go unnoticed. Strategic investments in grid optimisation and expansion, regional interconnections, flexibility solutions like demand-side management and energy storage will be the foundation of a resilient, renewable energy future,” said Rana Adib, executive director of REN21.

The report shows that the current transmission and distribution grids were developed alongside traditional centralised power generation facilities. They need to be adapted to incorporate increasingly decentralised and variable renewable power resources, and to enable demand-side management, in the context of increasing electricity demand. More optimistically, the report also notes that energy storage, also crucial to the stability of grids, saw utility-scale battery storage grew by 120 per cent, now totalling 55.7 GW globally.

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