Samuel OskysSeveral countries around the world, such as Iceland, Paraguay, and Costa-Rica, are making an effort to go fully renewable. Many cities in countries like Germany, Great Britain, Scotland and the US, are also working on the goal of reaching 100% renewable energy in the coming years. Other places such as Quebec in Canada and the German region of Schleswig-Holstein, have already achieved that goal and have been entirely renewable energy-based for a while now.
The Source of Renewable Energy
The most popular sources of renewable energy are solar, wind, hydropower and geothermal. Today, 25% of the planet’s energy originates from renewable sources. If the urgency of the situation reaches most major cities in the world, we may reach close to 40% by 2040.
This immediate demand for renewable energy has attracted companies around the world to enter the market. These companies can be assessed according to their energy capacity production and consumption.
With this in mind, here is a list of the most innovative renewable energy companies to keep an eye on:
GE Renewable Energy
With very large operations in the renewable energy sector and the potential of scaling it in the near future, GE Renewable Energy is known as one of the largest wind turbine suppliers in the world.
GE Renewable Energy has offshore and onshore turbines and is also one of the largest generators of hydro turbines in the world. They represent approximately 25% of the world’s total capacity installed. Currently, they are working towards producing hybrid energy storage systems in order to store excess energy generated by renewables. Their latest energy storage system projects can be found in California and South Australia. Also more recently, GE Renewable Energy was awarded a multi-million dollar project for the groundworks and civil construction of onshore and offshore wind substations for wind farm Neart na Gaoithe, just off the coast of Scotland. This project is expected to be fully operational by the year 2023.
Berkshire Hathaway Energy
This firm believes in investing in sustainable energy sources to protect the interests of future generations by using wind, solar, hydro and geothermal energies. At the moment, they deliver reliable services to close to 12 million customers around the world, they generate 7,800 megawatts of wind energy and have 1,500 megawatts of solar capacity in operation.
They use the energy generated by flowing water into electrical energy via their hydroelectric power plants and steam into electricity via their geothermal energy plants. This renowned company has made large contributions to the renewable energy department.
Electrobras
Electrobras is a firm based in Brazil and is the 4th largest renewable energy company in the world. Its main form of power generation is hydropower.
They are currently in the process of expanding in Costa Rica, throughout South America, but also, Angola and Namibia.
First Solar Inc.
This firm is an international energy company that specializes in solar energy. They are a leading solar module manufacturer for their industry and they develop complete solar projects for power companies and other utilities. They also provide construction, engineering and of course service for solar projects.
The company plans on producing 3 times the amount of energy output in the very near future. They are also known for developing low-cost solar converters that make electricity more efficient to produce.
Siemens Gamesa
Siemens Gamesa is a pioneer in generating wind power using wind turbines. They are also amongst the first companies to start wind generators and they own very large wind farms.
They provide clean, reliable, and affordable wind power and their scale and global reach have proven that they play a major role in shaping the energy landscape of the future by providing offshore and onshore services in the wind power business.
This firm is classed as one of the top sustainability-driven companies in the world and has contributed to changing the face of renewables in the wind energy sector. Their most recent project in Egypt can be found here.
NextEra Energy Resources
One of the largest wind and solar energy producers of our time, NextEra Energy Resources, has made it their objective, since 1925, to find innovative solutions to improve the environmental problem by focusing mostly on wind and solar power.
They look to create a sustainable future by making investments in today’s infrastructure to develop renewable energy. These energy leaders have a market capitalization of over $100bn and will continue to grow with their new plan to invest an extra $55bn over the next few years.
Canadian Solar
Canadian Solar is one of the greats in renewable energy and is currently in the top 5 in terms of revenue.
This solar power focused firm, acquired “Recurrent Energy” back in 2015 which increased its overall production and in 2016 it further increased the energy generated and decreased the energy consumed during the process which is something that most firms today are looking to achieve.
Canadian Solar is also known for helping the Virunga National Park in the Republic of Congo by donating a large number of solar panels to power security lights and radios that safeguard the endangered animals from surrounding poachers.
To Conclude
It’s evident that renewable energy is essential for a sustainable, green future. The role of the aforementioned energy companies is critical as they use innovative measures to improve energy consumption and generation through renewable resources.
Energy is a sector that has unlimited potential and this is yet another reason why these firms exploit it further. Fixing environmental pollution, solving poverty issues and providing power in the form of electricity to people in rural areas of the world.
Image Source by The Motley Fool, Siemens Gamesa, Bloomberg, GP1, BKEnergy, GE Renewable, and Electrek
