In the past, critics have pointed to renewables as inefficient, but that has changed with technological advances. Renewables are now competing at the same or even lower cost as fossil fuels in some cases, and supply can be ramped up quickly.
Gokhan Baykam
There’s no doubt that there’s an energy crisis upon us, one which experts have been predicting.
Exacerbating the lack of energy in Europe was the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine, which spurred Europe to make moves toward weaning off Russian oil. Germany relies on Russia for a large part of its oil and at least 50% of its gas (Guardian) – costing approximately $700 million per day (DW). Europe as a whole gets 40% of its gas from Russia spending as much as one billion a day on coal, gas, and oil from Russia (Bloomberg).
And this is all happening at a time when our power consumption is also expected to increase globally by 60% by 2050 (Bloomberg).
The rising demand for energy, coupled with the short supply, must drive innovation when it comes to renewable energy. I firmly believe that this is Europe’s opportunity to drive hard for renewables and for Europe to completely switch to renewables as soon as possible.
Demand for renewables is also increasing. The International Energy Agency states that the capacity of renewable energy is set to expand by half between 2019 and 2024 (earth.org). In the US, the annual share of energy generated by renewable energy sources is expected to hit 23% in 2023, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Further, in 2021, 80 percent of new electricity capacity was renewable – wind and solar made up 91% of new renewables. (Irena.org).
In order to promote renewables, however, we need to get rid of other types of energy.
Coal
The era of the fossil fuel is over. Coal especially should be avoided at all costs, due to obvious reasons of global warming and environmental damage. There are murmurs that Europe might revert to coal in the short term while considering options due to the weaning off of Russian gas, but this must be avoided at all costs. Coal is disastrous for the planet and we don’t need to bring coal back to the table, given all the other options at our disposal.
Nuclear
Nuclear could have been a good solution for Europe, especially coupled with renewables but the disaster in Chornobyl created cautious policies. Now we have missed the ‘nuclear boat’ because the war in Ukraine makes Europe vulnerable to potential energy station attacks. Another nuclear disaster would be catastrophic. The length of time it takes to get a nuclear energy station up and running is also over a decade, and we don’t have that kind of time.
Gas
In the short term, Europe may have to lean on gas in the face of the Russian issue, but this must be a short-term solution only. We can look to the US, Qatar and Algeria, but I stress, this must be a short-term strategy. Gas is dependent on sources outside the western hemisphere in most cases and even getting gas from the US must be short-lived as it doesn’t make sense from a security point of view or from a point of view of Europe’s independence from the US.
Renewables
In the short and medium-term, in the next ten years, the only solution should be renewables. This change needs to happen at a lightning quick speed. That means stakeholders must work together, policies must be accelerated for this to happen. The speed to create renewable assets must decrease to one to two years from the current three to four.
In the past, critics have pointed to renewables as inefficient, but that has changed with technological advances.
Renewables are now competing at the same or even lower cost as fossil fuels in some cases, and supply can be ramped up quickly.
Renewable energy storage has also been an issue in the past but that’s no longer a barrier. There is storage available at competitive prices. Within the next five years, the International Energy Agency (IEA) expects global power storage capacity to expand by 56% to reach more than 270 GW by 2026, driven by a growing need to create flexible electricity systems which rely more on renewable sources. (iea.org)
I am building a battery storage company that will install large battery facilities across Europe. The battery storage is designed to stabilize the grid and act as renewable energy storage, therefore, allowing clean energy at crucial times of the day as and when the system requires it.
Now is a crucial time in our planet’s history. Those that come after us will look at this time when we still had time to reverse some of the damage wreaked by global warming and also keep the earth’s temperature from rising too quickly. If we do nothing, we will have failed ourselves, the planet and all its beings, and the future generations. Let’s choose wisely and vote for renewables today.
Gokhan Baykam
Gokhan Baykam is a global entrepreneur and investor with more than 20 years of experience in leadership roles in technology, commodities, renewable energy sectors, and luxury amongst others.
He is the founder and chairman of Relight, Bay Capital Arkham Investments and president of the Baykam Earth Foundation. Through Relight, a renewable energy player in the region, international projects were launched across four continents, creating global impact and working towards Gokhan’s vision of a clean environment while not compromising on economic benefits.
His ventures have led him to do business in multiple verticals within the renewable energy sector including solar, wind, hydro, biomass, biogas, and biodiesel.
