Renewables and storage: solar, wind and grid-scale batteries powering the global energy transition

What it is

Renewables and storage tracks the deployment, economics and policy of solar PV, onshore and offshore wind, and grid-scale battery energy-storage systems worldwide. These technologies are the primary mechanism through which the global electricity system is being decarbonized: new renewable capacity additions have outpaced every other generation technology for more than two decades. Grid-scale battery storage is the coupling element that converts intermittent solar and wind output into dispatchable power, and its buildout is now the central technical bottleneck, investment signal and geopolitical contest of the energy transition. A world-news reader follows this beat because the pace of rollout sets carbon trajectories, shapes energy costs for households and industry, drives commodity demand (lithium, manganese, silicon, copper, rare earths) and determines the industrial competitiveness of every major economy.

History

The modern era of utility-scale renewables began with European feed-in tariff programs of the early 2000s, particularly Germany's Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz of 2000. Wind expansion in Denmark and Spain preceded solar at scale, but cost curves changed the sequence. Between 2010 and 2020, the average cost of utility-scale solar PV fell roughly 90%, from around US$380/MWh to below US$40/MWh. Wind followed a parallel but shallower decline. The 2015 Paris Agreement converted the cost advantage into a binding policy target across more than 190 countries. Grid-scale battery storage was commercially marginal until around 2017, when a 100 MW installation in South Australia demonstrated frequency regulation at utility scale. LFP (lithium iron phosphate) chemistry, commercialized at scale by Chinese manufacturers, replaced higher-cost NMC cells in utility applications after 2020, driving storage costs down by roughly 60% between 2020 and 2024.

Current state

As of early 2026, global renewable power capacity stands at 5,149 GW (IRENA, March 2026), with 692 GW added in 2025 alone, the largest single-year increment on record. Solar PV (511 GW) and wind (159 GW) together accounted for 96.8% of 2025 net additions. China drove more than 60% of global 2025 additions, commissioning roughly 370 GW of solar and 117 GW of wind, and set a 30% clean-power target for 2030 in its 15th Five-Year Plan in June 2026. The United States, India and the European Union are the next-largest markets by additions, though all three face policy headwinds: the US debates the durability of Inflation Reduction Act manufacturing credits, India faces grid-investment gaps, and European offshore wind developers renegotiated or cancelled contracts as financing costs rose through 2024-25. Grid-scale battery storage deployments reached 108 GW of new installations in 2025, up 40% on 2024, with LFP chemistry at about 90% of deployments and average storage duration rising to three hours from two hours in 2023.

Relationships

The beat connects directly to the critical-minerals supply chain: lithium for battery cells, manganese for LMFP cathodes (an emerging lower-cost variant of LFP that is gaining share in utility applications), silicon and polysilicon for solar cells, and copper for grid interconnection. 南アフリカ初の高純度硫酸マンガン一水和物プラントが稼働、LMFPバッテリーがマンガンを不可欠な鉱物へと押し上げる tracks manganese's role as LMFP chemistry gains share, including South Africa's first high-purity manganese sulfate plant and Gabon's 2029 export ban, both of which alter seaborne supply. GlencoreがLi-Cycleを買収、Ascend Elementsが破産を申請、欧州のリサイクル各社が5億ユーロ超を調達し、商業規模の電池リサイクルは2026年に淘汰・再編へ covers the emerging closed-loop supply chain as first-generation EV battery packs approach end-of-life, with direct implications for lithium and cobalt sourcing. National clean-energy policy sets the volume parameters: 中国第15次五カ年計画、2030年までにクリーンエネルギー30%目標と産業脱炭素化キャンペーンを設定 covers the world's largest manufacturing and deployment market. Adjacent threads include grid integration constraints, long-duration storage (flow batteries, pumped hydro, compressed air), and the growing intersection with AI data-center power demand.

What to watch

The IEA projects an additional 4,600 GW of renewable capacity by 2030 if current policy trajectories hold. The live pressure points are: whether offshore wind in Europe stabilizes after the 2024-25 wave of project cancellations; whether US Inflation Reduction Act manufacturing credits survive legislative or executive rollback; whether China's LFP and LMFP battery exports can reach Western markets as EU anti-subsidy tariffs (announced 2024) and US Section 301 tariffs remain in force; and whether grid-investment pace matches generation buildout, especially in India, where curtailment rates are rising. The specific technical frontier is storage duration: the industry is targeting six-to-twelve-hour systems to enable overnight solar dispatch by 2030. Long-duration storage beyond lithium-ion, including iron-air and vanadium flow chemistries, remains pre-commercial but is approaching pilot scale.