2025 will be the year of the “renewable double”

For the first time, wind energy and photovoltaics, that is, two renewable energy sources, will surpass nuclear energy as sources of energy generation. These are the forecasts for this year, according to what was advanced a few weeks ago, by the general director of the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving, Miguel Rodrigo.

In Spain, wind energy has already been the first source of the generation energy mix in the last two years. And photovoltaic and solar thermal will be the second source of the national electricity mix, ahead of combined cycle thermal plants (which burn natural gas (methane) to generate electricity) and also ahead of nuclear.

According to these forecasts, there will be two sources of clean energy, wind and sun, that will generate more electricity throughout this year that has just begun, pushing two others down the ranks: uranium and methane gas.

In the opinion of the general director of IDEA, renewable energies have made their way in an accelerated and irreversible manner: “few could be so optimistic a few years ago as to think that self-consumption was going to increase by a thousand percent in just six years . Or that electricity generation in annual terms was going to have wind power as the first generator and that the technology that was going to compete for that position was not going to be a fossil technology, but rather another renewable technology, such as photovoltaics.”

Advances in the energy transition

In recent years, transitions towards clean energy, both in Spain and in Europe and the rest of the world, have accelerated markedly, conditioned by government policies and industrial strategies. These energy sources, which were practically symbolic just 20 years ago, are gaining ground, although unevenly between advanced and developing economies.

This is clear from the latest Investment report of the International Energy Agency (IEA), which shows an upward trend in the evolution of electricity production towards “clean sources” of energy, in which the energy solar and wind play a very prominent role

According to the Report, investments in clean energy now exceed investments in fossil fuels, and low-emission sources are expected to generate more than half of the world’s electricity by 2030.

In the year 2000, these energy sources were barely present, but from then until today, they have experienced constant growth. The countries of Europe have been leaders in this process. However, the transition towards alternative energies is not limited only to the European continent, countries such as Australia and China are also playing a crucial role in the expansion of solar and wind energy.

This transformation towards cleaner and more sustainable energy sources is essential to achieve a more sustainable energy future and combat climate change.