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Renewable energy needs advanced technology for breakthrough: WEC co-chair

Xinhua, May 24, 2016 Adjust font size:

Global renewable energy industry needs an advanced technology for breakthrough in providing a more reliable, sustainable energy source for the world, co-chair of the World Energy Council (WEC) said Tuesday.

WEC Co-Chair Younghoon David Kim told a meeting with foreign correspondents in Seoul that solar and wind powers could be the most acceptable option of renewable energy in consideration of its "sustainability". Solar and wind powers emit no greenhouse gas, helping the world tackle climate change.

Kim, however, pointed out their "reliability" problem as solar and wind powers have yet to secure an energy storage technology advanced enough to accommodate factories and plants in an industrial scale. The present technology can only serve automobile batteries.

Solar and wind powers are clean and sustainable, but they are not a reliable energy source because provisions can be stopped depending on weather conditions. To overcome the intermittence problem, technology on energy storage should be advanced enough to cover the intermittent halt, the co-chair said.

Kim is scheduled to take office as WEC chair at the upcoming World Energy Congress that will be held in October in Istanbul, Turkey. The 23rd triennial congress will come under the theme of "Embracing New Frontiers", expecting to attract about 10,000 delegates from about 120 countries.

The WEC was launched in 1923 in the name of World Power Conference to rebuild the war-torn electricity networks at the post-WW I Europe, led by electricity engineers from 24 countries. It renamed it the current World Energy Council in 1989.

Kim, who is also chairman and chief executive at the South Korea-based renewable energy giant Daesung Group, forecast that China will take the lead in the global renewable energy industry, noting that the WEC would take note of Northeast Asia as the region is to become powerhouses of the segment.

The CEO said solar cell costs have continued, will continue to decline thanks to advancements in China and India, though not as fast as the past fall of memory chip costs in the semiconductor industry. Endit