By Alexander Jones, International Banker
With the seismic geopolitical events in West Asia bringing the global energy system sharply into focus over the last few weeks, the need for diversity in viable power sources has rarely been more pressing. On the renewable-energy front, a multitude of recent technological developments are not only helping to boost its cost competitiveness alongside the existing system, but they are also forcing a redesign of the system itself.
Although the likes of solar and wind power were once significantly more expensive than their fossil-fuel counterparts, technological advancements have helped drive costs down sharply, making renewables economically competitive across key global markets. Beyond simply determining whether renewable energy can be generated cheaply, therefore, the conversation has more recently evolved into assessing how reliably it can be integrated into national and global energy systems.
Power must be accessible as and when needed, not only when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing, which, in turn, means that attention has shifted towards technologies that enable efficient coordination, storage and transmission. Recent developments reflect this shift, as they are less about achieving incremental improvements in power generation and more about building systems that are capable of managing variability, scale and complexity.
Solar energy
New solar cell designs are improving efficiency by capturing consistently greater amounts of sunlight, allowing more electricity to be generated from the same surface area and reducing land use and installation costs.
Solar technology remains the most visible component of this shift. New solar cell designs are improving efficiency by capturing consistently greater amounts of sunlight, allowing more electricity to be generated from the same surface area and reducing land use and installation costs.
Perovskite-based cells represent one of the most promising developments. These cells can be layered on top of existing silicon cells in tandem configurations, allowing a single panel to capture a broader range of the solar spectrum and generate more power from the same surface area.
Not only can perovskites be manufactured via simpler and more affordable processes than traditional silicon, but their high efficiency in converting sunlight into electricity is generating major interest in 2026. Indeed, efficiency has improved from below 5 percent in the late 2000s to more than 25 percent today, while tandem configurations combining perovskite with conventional silicon have exceeded 30 percent under laboratory conditions.
A research team at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), together with the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM), recently achieved a record efficiency rate of 30.02 percent for triple-junction solar cells. “We show that with clever design and processing, we can approach performance levels traditionally reserved for the most expensive III–V multi-junction solar cells used in space, which are composed of multiple semiconductor layers,” according to Kerem Artuk, a member of the CSEM team. “These can reach up to 37 percent efficiency and cost around 1,000 times more than terrestrial cells per watt. Our approach opens the door to a new generation of industrially viable, high-efficiency multi-junction photovoltaics.”
These gains suggest that perovskites could surpass the practical efficiency limits of traditional silicon panels, although at this stage, current production is limited to pilot-scale facilities measured in tens or hundreds of megawatts (MW), compared with a global installed solar base exceeding 1.4 terawatts (TW). That said, early investments in pilot production lines indicate that many see perovskite technology as having a commercially viable future ahead.
More significant for the solar-energy space in the near-term, meanwhile, has been the continued scaling of manufacturing, with Chinese firms in particular controlling a large share of production across key components such as polysilicon, wafers and finished modules. China already dominates the global solar-power supply chain, and recent months have seen manufacturers expanding production capacity to further drive down costs and accelerate deployment, resulting in an ecosystem capable of producing solar technology at a scale and cost that competitors are struggling to match.
“It is projected that the total newly installed power generation capacity in 2026 will exceed 400 million kilowatts, of which the newly installed capacity of new energy power generation is expected to exceed 300 million kilowatts,” according to the China Electricity Council (CEC), the country’s top electricity-industry group. “It is also projected that the installed capacity of solar power will exceed that of coal-fired power for the first time in 2026, and by the end of the year, the combined installed capacity of wind power and solar power will reach half of the total installed power generation capacity, while the proportion of coal-fired power in the total installed capacity will drop to about 31 percent.”
Wind energy
Wind technology has also evolved rapidly in recent years, albeit with different geographic and technological profiles from those of solar. Driven by record installations in China, the United States and Europe, global installed wind capacity surpassed one terawatt in 2023, according to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), compared with around 400 gigawatts (GW) just a decade earlier, while the 2-TW mark could be reached as early as the end of this decade.
Offshore wind has been a key area of development. China has emerged as the largest offshore wind market globally, accounting for more than 50 percent of new offshore installations in recent years, reflecting a deliberate strategy to advance its turbine-manufacturing capabilities for use both at home and worldwide. In the first half of 2026, China accounts for more than 60 percent of global wind-turbine production capacity.
Another notable development is the progression of floating offshore wind technology. Unlike traditional offshore turbines, which require fixed foundations, floating systems can operate in deeper waters where wind conditions are often more favourable. China, along with a few other countries, has begun pilot deployments of these systems.
“Floating turbines enable offshore wind farms in deeper waters, while larger blades capture more energy, even at low wind speeds. Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs) are better suited for urban environments or regions with variable wind patterns, as they capture wind from any direction,” according to Spanish solar-software firm RatedPower. “Wooden turbine towers are reducing production costs and emissions compared to steel, making wind energy more sustainable. These advancements are lowering costs and increasing efficiency, making wind energy a scalable and viable renewable resource.”
Through novel designs and materials innovations, wind-turbine advancements are also boosting energy output. Modern offshore turbines now exceed 15 megawatts (MW) per unit, compared with less than 5 MW a decade ago. Larger turbines increase output while reducing installation and maintenance costs per unit of electricity.
Energy storage
Among renewable energy’s most significant challenges has been variability, with energy-storage technologies now addressing this constraint in highly effective ways. As the world’s largest producer of battery technologies, China’s role in this area remains central as it continues to scale production to levels unmatched globally.
In recent months, Chinese firms have introduced new battery chemistries designed to reduce reliance on more expensive or scarce materials, while maintaining performance. And large-scale systems such as California’s Tesla Megapack—a rechargeable lithium-ion battery-based stationary energy-storage product—can store excess energy for backup power during energy shortages or blackouts.
Installations can now store excess energy generated during periods of high supply and release it when demand increases, thereby smoothing fluctuations and improving reliability. Solid-state batteries are also gaining popularity as longer-lasting and safer alternatives to lithium-ion batteries, especially when used in electric vehicles and grid-scale storage. And flow batteries use liquid electrolytes to improve their discharge times, making them ideal for larger energy projects.
Hydrogen
Hydrogen has re-emerged as a potential complement to renewable energy. Its significance lies less in its current scale than in its potential to extend renewable energy into heavy industry and transport—sectors that are notoriously difficult to electrify directly.
Global electrolyser capacity, which was less than one GW in 2020, is on a trajectory to expand significantly over the coming decade, with announced projects suggesting capacity could exceed 200 GW by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) Hydrogen Outlook report. The IEA also noted that capacity already operating, under construction or at final investment decision will surge more than fivefold from 2024 levels to above four million tons per year by 2030. Electrolysers are critical for producing low-emission “green” hydrogen by using electricity, ideally from renewable sources, to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, with zero direct carbon emissions.
China has begun to invest significantly in hydrogen as part of its broader energy strategy, though deployment remains at an early stage compared with solar, wind and batteries. Nonetheless, the country accounts for 65 percent of global capacity of hydrogen electrolysers either currently installed or at final investment decision, as well as almost 60 percent of electrolyser-manufacturing capacity.