GLOBAL TECHNICAL POTENTIAL (EJ/YR, LOG SCALE)
100,000 MIN/MAX RANGE
10,000
1,000
GLOBAL HEAT DEMAND 2010, 167 EJ
100
10
GLOBAL PRIMARY ENERGY SUPPLY, 2010 534 EJ GLOBAL ELECTRICITY DEMAND 2010, 64 EJ
1 Geothermal Hydropower Energy
Ocean Energy
ELECTRICITY
Wind Energy
Geothermal Energy
HEAT
Biomass
Direct Solar
PRIMARY ENERGY
figure 4.14 Estimated global technical RE potential Source: IPCC 2011.
High-impact opportunities Technical potential Technical studies have consistently found that total global technical potential for renewable energy is substantially higher than global energy demand projected to 2050 (IPCC 2011) (figure 4.14). Technical potential for solar energy is the highest among renewable energy sources, but substantial potential also exists for biomass, geothermal, hydro, wind, and ocean energy. Available data suggest that most of this technical potential is located in the developing world (figure 4.15 and table 4.7). For instance, at least 75 percent of the world’s unexploited potential in hydropower is located in Africa, Asia, and South America, and about 65 percent of total geothermal potential is found in non-OECD countries (IJHD 2011; IPCC 2011). Also, many developing nations are located in the solar belt, the area with the highest solar irradiance across the globe. Clearly, the challenge will be to capture and utilize a sizable share of this vast global technical potential in a cost-effective and environmentally and socially sound manner. Meeting a higher share of global consumption with renewable energy sources will pose important technical 193 Global tracking framework
75%
of the world’s unexploited potential
in hydropower is located in Africa, Asia and South America.
challenges. For instance, scaling up the use of renewable energy will require the proactive planning of transmission systems, often on a broader regional scale, to allow for optimization of sources and balancing of variability. In fact, regional integration can allow increased resource use efficiency due to seasonal and dispatching complementarities (for example, among hydro, wind and solar resources). This can be particularly important in regions with a high potential for large hydropower (for example, South Asia), or regions where resource endowments exhibit high complementarities (for example, East Africa). At the same time, the parallel deployment of energy efficiency measures that reduce peak demand on the grid while easing transmission losses and bottlenecks will help make renewable energy objectives more attainable. Indeed, energy systems will need to be planned and operated with both the use of renewable sources and deployment of energy efficiency measures in mind.