Focus on Clean Energy Technology and Development
As a PCBA manufacturer, we always keep in close touch with advanced technology and development hotspot. Today our topic will focus on clean energy and talk about its technology and development.
In 2022, global clean energy investment will increase by 10% on the basis of 2021, reaching US$1.4 trillion, accounting for 70% of the total investment growth in the energy sector. Nevertheless, the leading role of fossil fuels is still there, and its proportion in the primary energy structure is still as high as 80%. This poses a significant threat to achieving net-zero emissions targets and is driving accelerated deployment of clean energy technologies.
According to the net-zero emission scenario in 2050, by 2030, global electric vehicle production needs to increase by 6 times on the current basis; renewable energy accounts for more than 60% of electricity generation (currently 30%); electricity demand increases by 25 %, accounting for nearly 30% of total final consumption (currently 20%). If the announced clean energy projects proceed as planned, they will meet the global demand for photovoltaic modules and electric vehicle batteries in 2030 under the net zero emission scenario, but they will fall short in other areas, especially electrolyzers and heat pumps (isolated batteries). The target is still 40% and 60% short).
The speed of the transition to clean energy depends largely on the integrity of the clean technology supply chain. It is predicted that to achieve the goal of 2030 under the net zero emission scenario, the world needs to invest a total of 1.2 trillion US dollars to build the production capacity required for the supply chain. Considering the project cycle, most of the investment needs to be in place between 2023 and 2025, which means in the next three years, an average annual investment of US$270 billion will be required, which will be seven times the average investment from 2016 to 2021.
Key materials needed for clean energy technologies such as copper, lithium, cobalt and nickel are changing the energy security paradigm across the world. Five times as much material is needed to make a typical-sized electric car than a typical car, which will undoubtedly strain supply and demand. Forecasts show that the lithium gap in 2030 will be as high as 35%, and the nickel sulfate gap will be as high as 60%.
The preparations for establishing new supply chains and expanding existing supply chains are relatively time-consuming, and policy support is urgently needed. It usually takes more than ten years to mine or build clean energy infrastructure, but it only takes one to three years to build a factory or apply a large-scale manufacturing process.
From 2021 to 2030, the net zero emission scenario will increase from 33 million to 70 million jobs in the clean energy industry, which can offset the loss of 8.5 million jobs in fossil fuel-related industries. Building a large and skilled workforce is key to achieving net zero emissions, but there are still labor shortages and skills bottlenecks in the global clean energy industry.