Renewable energies are booming as innovations cut costs and deliver on the promise of a clean energy future.
Wind and solar power, often referred to as clean energy, comes from natural sources or processes that are constantly being replenished. For example, sunlight or wind shines and blows, even if their availability depends on time and weather.
While renewable energies are often viewed as a new technology, harnessing the power of nature has long been used for heating, transportation, lighting, and more. Wind propelled boats to sail the seas and windmills to grind grain. The sun kept warmth during the day and helped keep fires going well into the evening.
But over the past 500 years, people have increasingly turned to cheaper, dirtier energy sources like coal and fracking gas.
Now that we have increasingly innovative and cost-effective ways to generate and store wind and solar energy, renewable energies are becoming a more important source of energy. The expansion of renewable energies is happening on a large and small scale, from solar panels on the roof of houses that can sell power back to the grid to huge offshore wind farms. Entire rural communities are now using renewable energies for heating and lighting.
The world is making progress towards goal number 7 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030 (SDGs), with encouraging signs that energy is becoming more sustainable and more widely available. Access to electricity in poorer countries has accelerated, energy efficiency continues to improve, and renewables are making impressive strides in the electricity sector.
Still, more attention is needed to improve access to clean and safe cooking fuels and technologies for 3 billion people, expand the use of renewable energies beyond the electricity sector and increase electrification in sub-Saharan Africa.
Renewable energies are now one of the most important sources of electricity in Europe and many other parts of the world. The expansion of renewable energies, for example, is one of the central pillars of the German energy transition. The energy supply should become more climate-friendly and also reduce dependence on fossil fuels to a minimum.
That is why the Areos Group started years ago to participate in international projects in the important and booming field of renewable energies. For example, we were involved in the planning and development of several photovoltaic systems in Southeast Europe with a total output of 50 MW and years ago we were well ahead of our time in planning a 200 MW wind farm for the environmentally friendly production of "green" hydrogen in Patagonia, Argentina.
The Areos Group is currently working on feasibility studies for various photovoltaic locations in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, we are currently working on two projects in East African South Sudan, in which our company is also dealing with the innovative and promising segment of agri-photovoltaics for the first time.