Solar photovoltaic (PV) and onshore wind are now the cheapest options for new power generation, but enabling policies are still needed to speed up deployment, particularly in lower income countries. Public financial support measures most likely to facilitate tipping in lower income countries are concessional finance, grants, and loan guarantees; grid investments; and fossil fuel subsidy reform. Increased transfers are needed from the international donor and finance community.
Authors
- Pages
- 33
- Published in
- Canada
- Rights
- IISD, 2024
Table of Contents
- Table ES1. A suite of policies is likely to be needed for system-wide change to renewable power 4
- Table 1. Types of policy aims and measures to reach them 25
- 1.0 Introduction and Objectives 8
- 1.1 Objectives 9
- 2.0 How Change Happens Through Tipping Points 10
- 3.0 Current Trends in RE Deployment 14
- 3.1 Utility-Scale Solar PV and Onshore Wind Have Reached Tipping Points in Some Geographies 14
- 3.2 RE Capacity and Investment Are Heavily Concentrated in Advanced Economies and China 15
- 4.0 Barriers to Tipping 18
- 4.1 Dampening Feedbacks 1: Barriers related to fossil fuel incumbency 18
- 4.2 Dampening Feedbacks 2: Barriers related to the mismatch between variable RE and existing institutions and infrastructure 19
- 4.3 Barriers Related to EMDEs 20
- 5.0 Public Financial Support: Status and trends 21
- 6.0 The Role of Public Finance in Forcing Tipping 23
- 7.0 Insights for Solar and Wind Deployment in EMDEs 25
- 8.0 Conclusion 27
- References 28
- Figure ES1: Tipping points conceptual framework 3
- Figure 1. Forcing tipping through policy interventions 10
- Figure 2. Highest solar PV and onshore wind net capacity additions in 2023 (excluding China, the EU, and the United States), MW 16
- Box 1. The role of public financial support in achieving tipping points in solar PV 11
- Box 2. IEA’s system integration of renewables framework 19
