Brics on the Brink of Clean Energy Milestone: Renewables Set to Surpass 50%, But Infrastructure Investment Urgently Needed

The power dynamic of BRICS is changing: renewable energy capacity is projected to exceed 50% as the utilization of fossil fuels lessens. To truly capitalize on the advantages of renewable energy, swift investments in power grid structures and energy storage are crucial, according to experts.

This indicates a significant landmark in the shift towards renewable energy for the powerful group that continues to hold the majority of the world's coal power. Energy specialists, however, are encouraging these nations to speed up their investments in energy storage and grid systems to match the increasing proportion of renewable energy.

The group of nine Brics nations – which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates – are projected to introduce a total of 72 gigawatts (GW) of fossil-fuel power generation this year. This is in contrast to the 190GW of renewable energy capacity that has been added by just China, India, and Brazil, according to a recent report from Global Energy Monitor (GEM), a non-profit organization based in San Francisco.

The operational non-fossil power capacity in BRICS countries could increase to 2,289GW, outpacing the maximum fossil capacity of 2,245GW by the end of the year. This suggests that for the first time, over half of the power generated in these nations could be from non-fossil sources, a significant leap from just 30% in 2007. Accounting for 36% of the world's GDP, the BRICS countries are closing the gap with the European Union and the G7. These groups achieved a 50% non-fossil power share in the early 2010s and 2023 respectively, as per the data from GEM.

"The BRICS association is at a crucial crossroads," stated James Norman, project leader for GEM's worldwide power tracker, a diverse data compilation of power plants and installations globally. "The shift towards renewable energy is genuinely occurring everywhere."

China is spearheading the shift, with its fossil fuel power capacity declining at a rate double that of other Brics nations in the past half-decade, as per GEM's report.

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Indonesia inaugurates the biggest solar power plant on water in Southeast Asia in its drive towards environmental sustainability.