Indian Energy Minister Raj Kumar Singh, speaking at the Sydney Energy Forum, said that the global energy crisis is accelerating the transition to renewable energy sources (RES) and bringing the end of fossil fuel dominance closer, Bloomberg reported.
After fuel prices have skyrocketed in recent months, renewables combined with energy storage have become cheaper than coal, Singh said. At the same time, fossil energy sources lack investment in new production.
“Once you have 24/7 renewables, i.e., RES plus energy storage, that are viable, the end of fossil fuel history will come,” the Indian minister said. In his opinion, the turmoil in the global energy sector, which caused electricity shortages in some countries and a sharp rise in prices, has many causes and is not only the result of events in Europe.
This opinion is supported by Daniel Yergin, vice president of S&P Global Inc., who believes that the crisis began about six months before these events due to a shortage of coal, natural gas, and then oil as a result of insufficient investment in supply and the desire of producers to increase margins.