The Global Renewables Alliance (GRA) has launched a five-point Renewables Action Plan, which urges governments to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy solutions in response to global energy price shocks.

As the GRA warned, the latest crisis in the Middle East exposes the ‘fragility of a fossil fuel dependent global energy system’, with the group calling on governments to consider the current oil and gas price shocks as a ‘pivotal turning point’ in the transition to clean energy.

The plan is supported by the six member associations that comprise the GRA, including the Global Wind Energy Council, Global Solar Council, Green Hydrogen Organisation, Long Duration Energy Storage Council, International Hydropower Association and International Geothermal Association.

“Energy crises keep recurring because the global energy system remains stuck in the past,” said Bruce Douglas, CEO of GRA.“The fastest and cheapest way to protect economies and households from price shocks is to accelerate the deployment of renewables, energy efficiency and storage, strengthen grids and electrify end use sectors.”

The Renewables Action Plan outlines five priority actions for governments seeking to ‘break the cycle of energy crises’, including fast tracking permission and regulatory approvals, the removal of grid and storage bottlenecks, finance mobilisation, the acceleration of electrification, and the need to scale renewable supply chains.

1. Fast-track emergency permitting. Accelerate regulatory approvals by urgently streamlining permitting and consenting procedures for renewables and short- and long-duration storage projects to deliver a major expansion of capacity within the next 36 months.
2. Address grid and storage blockers. Expand, modernise and optimise electricity grids and storage systems to integrate new renewable capacity, provide reliability and maximise consumer access to low-cost renewables.
3. Mobilise financing now. Unlock and de-risk public and private investment for renewable energy and storage projects and associated infrastructure, by introducing preferential interest rates and financing, decreasing financial institution lending limits, creating renewable lending windows, and redirecting capital away from carbon intensive industries.
4. Move swiftly to electrification: Introduce and implement national strategies to accelerate end-use electrification and system integration across transport, heating and industry, supported by flexibility markets, demand response and short- and long-duration energy storage.
5. Scale up supply chains: Develop robust industrial strategies for supply chain development with clear milestones to expand renewable, grid and storage deployment and stockpiling.

“Imagine a world in which the global economy was not being strangled by the Strait of Hormuz,” added Eddie Rich, CEO of the International Hydropower Association, and vice-chair of the GRA. “Accelerating sustainable hydropower as part of a wider and urgent strategic transition to renewables is not only an energy strategy, it is risk reduction. It is price reduction. It is economic stability. It is long-term national security.”

Elsewhere, Julia Souder of the Long Duration Energy Storage Council emphasised the role that long-duration energy storage can play in supporting renewable energy systems.

“The energy shocks we are seeing once again highlight how vulnerable today’s energy systems are to volatile global fuel markets and the urgent need to modernise them,” she said. Read more here.