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Future of solar energy is very promising especially for solar PV systems such as PV/T, CPV and PV‐powered desalination systems. These systems can be path breaking in solving the hurdles of energy requirement in coming centuries. More R&D is needed in the PV/T and CPV systems to make economically viable at the user end.

Onshore wind energy sector can drive overall renewables growth worldwide due to the availability of abundant wind resource, large and competitive market and cost‐effective technologies owing to advances in the recent times. Moreover, changing policies across the globe will further boost this industry in future. Offshore wind energy sector can have tremendous potential in the next three decades with 10 times increase in its capacity (IRENA 2019g). Figure 2.7 shows the trends in investment in renewable energy, worldwide. Maximum investments in solar and wind sectors indicate a promising future for these two sources. Bioenergy sector is also ahead of other energy sources with respect to investments which displays its prospects in future.

Despite small investments in geothermal, the future of EGS has tremendous potential to expand and contribute more in power generation. By 2050, the installed capacity of EGS electricity production will be 70GWe assuming 85% probability. Due to advances in the area of EGS technology, more EGS power plants will be added, thus making it as one of the emerging technologies in the geothermal power sector. Investments in small hydropower are consistent in the last decade and are relatively small compared with other renewable sources.

Figure 2.7 Global investment in renewable energy.

Source: Modified from Frankfurt School‐UNEP Centre/BNEF (2020). Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2020. https://www.irena.org..