可再生能源成全球發電裝機容量最大來源

About 500,000 solar panels were installed daily last year as a record-shattering surge in green energy saw renewables overtake coal as the world’s biggest source of power capacity.

去年，全球每天安裝約50萬塊太陽能電池板——本輪創紀錄的綠色能源熱潮使可再生能源超越煤炭，成爲全球發電裝機容量最大來源。

Two wind turbines went up every hour in countries such as China, according to International Energy Agency officials who have sharply upgraded their forecasts of how fast renewable energy sources will grow.

已大幅上調可再生能源增速預測的國際能源署(IEA)官員表示，在中國等國，每小時就有兩臺風力發電機安裝到位。

“We are witnessing a transformation of global power markets led by renewables,” said Fatih Birol, executive director of the global energy advisory agency.

這家全球能源顧問機構的執行主任法提赫.比羅爾(Fatih Birol)說：“我們正在見證一場由可再生能源引領的全球電力市場變革。”

Part of the growth was caused by falls in the cost of solar and onshore wind power that Mr Birol said would have been “unthinkable” only five years ago.

當前增長的部分原因是太陽能和陸上風力發電成本下降，比羅爾稱，這在短短五年前還是“難以想象的”。

Although coal and other fossil fuels remain the largest source of electricity generation, many conventional power utilities and energy groups have been confounded by the speed at which renewables have grown and the rapid drop in costs for the technologies.

雖然煤炭及其他化石燃料仍貢獻最大的發電量，但許多傳統供電企業和能源集團對可再生能源的增長速度及其成本的快速下降感到措手不及。

Average global generation costs for new onshore wind farms fell by an estimated 30 per cent between 2010 and 2015 while those for big solar panel plants fell by an even steeper two-thirds, an IEA report published yesterday showed.

國際能源署昨日發佈的一份報告顯示，2010至2015年間，新建陸上風電場的全球平均發電成本下降了約30%，而大型太陽能發電場的成本降幅甚至更大，達到三分之二。

The Paris-based agency thinks costs are likely to fall further over the next five years, by 15 per cent on average for wind and by a quarter for solar power.

總部位於巴黎的該機構認爲，未來五年，可再生能源的發電成本很可能進一步下降：風力發電平均下降15%，太陽能發電下降25%。

It said an unprecedented 153 gigawatts of green electricity was installed last year, mostly wind and solar projects — more than Canada’s total capacity.

該機構稱，去年綠色電力新增裝機容量（主要是風能和太陽能項目）達到了空前的1530億瓦特，比加拿大的總裝機容量還高。

It was also more than the amount of conventional fossil fuel or nuclear power added in 2015, leading renewables to surpass coal’s cumulative share of global power capacity — though not electricity generation.

該數字還超過了2015年化石燃料或核能的新增裝機容量，使可再生能源超過了煤炭在全球裝機容量（儘管不是發電量）中的累計佔比。

A power plant’s capacity is the maximum amount of electricity it can potentially produce. The amount of energy a plant actually generates varies according to how long it produces power over a period of time. Because a wind or solar farm cannot generate constantly like coal, it will produce less energy over the course of a year even though it may have the same or higher level of capacity.

電廠的裝機容量是其能夠產出的最大數量的電能。電廠的實際發電量根據其在一段時間內發電時間長短而變化。由於風力或太陽能發電場無法像煤炭那樣不間斷地產生電力，因此，雖然它們可能擁有與煤炭相同或更高的裝機容量，但在一年內的發電量還是少於煤炭。

Coal plants supplied close to 39 per cent of the world’s power in 2015, while renewables, including older hydropower dams, accounted for 23 per cent.

2015年，燃煤電廠提供了全球近39%的電力，而可再生能源（包括歷史較久的水電）佔23%。

But the IEA expects renewables’ share to rise to 28 per cent by 2021, when it predicts they will supply the equivalent of all the electricity generated now in the US and EU combined.

但國際能源署預計，到2021年，可再生能源的佔比將上升至28%，屆時將提供相當於現在美國和歐盟總髮電量的電力。

It revised five-year forecasts to show renewables’ capacity growing 13 per cent more than estimates made just last year, mostly due to strong policy backing in the US, China, India and Mexico.

該機構修正了其五年期預測——可再生能源裝機容量增長比去年的估算高出13%，這主要歸功於美國、中國、印度以及墨西哥強有力的政策支持。