According to IRENA’s 2016 REmap global report, by 2050 electricity generated by renewables will make up as much as 60% of all renewable energy use (when measured in final energy terms). Around four-fifths of all electricity generation will come from renewable sources, of which around half is expected to come from variable renewable energy (VRE) resources such as solar PV and wind. While this assumes any integration challenges will be resolved in the long term, IRENA Members currently have concerns regarding how to best to address the integration challenge in terms of planning for capacity expansion, ensuring reliable system operation and identifying the most suitable mix of grid integration measures, such as storage, demand response and harnessing available flexibility in the power system through effective market design. To address these concerns, the IRENA Power Sector Transformation team is active in the areas of power sector planning with large shares of VRE, grid integration planning studies, energy storage and smart grids.

Data and interactive graphs:

Power sector planning components and time horizon