Demand for renewable energy documented with Guarantees of Origin shot up by roughly 15% across the EU for the first half of 2020, according to a report conducted by the Association of Issuing Bodies (AIB).
Norwegian consultancy firm ECOHZ, which analysed the statistics, concurred a continued growth in the renewables market was "especially impressive" given the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
ECOHZ managing director Tom Lindberg said: “The demand for renewable energy documented with Guarantees of Origin shows record growth during the first half of 2020, despite the negative effect Covid-19 is having on global and local economies.
“The fact that especially corporate demand for renewables seems unaffected is truly inspiring during these unusual and trying times.
“The demand for renewables reached 530 TWh at the close of Q2 2020. This is the highest figure recorded, even compared to previous full years – with the year 2019 being the only exception.”
He added that much of the continued growth will come from an expanding group of corporations with extensive energy use across more flexible international markets.
Lindburg said: “Lastly, a nascent development to purchase and report renewables on a monthly basis, and in some cases on shorter time intervals (such as day, hour) also contributes to a more robust market. There are very few reasons these developments will not continue."
Four new countries were added to the AIB list during the first half of the year: Serbia, Slovakia, Greece and Portugal.
It was recently revealed that negative energy prices swept across the continent owing to the market being able to match and sometimes surpass demand for energy consumption, even at the heights of the pandemic.
According to this report, Slovakia was the only country on the list of the recently added to see any negative prices during the first nine months of the year.
Lindburg agreed, adding: "These countries have contributed little to the volume growth so far in 2020 but will likely have a positive effect moving forward.
“Even with strong growth in the supply, market demand easily outpaced supply in 2019 ... The 2019 growth is even more impressive given that historical annual growth (CAGR) is 15.6% in the period from 2010 to 2019."
The AIB's data also shows that hydropower has seen negative growth in Europe, dropping from a 64% share in 2018 to 61% in 2019, down from 90% in 2008.
Lindburg said the drop in hydropower shares can mainly be attributed to increased availability for solar and wind power.
The AIB found that wind share had increased from a 19% share in 2018 to a 23% share in 2019, while solar's share grew to 5% in 2019.
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