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By Nina Chestney
LONDON, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Renewable energy will grow at agreater annual rate than previously forecast and account forover one third of the growth in global power generation by 2035,oil company BP said on Wednesday.
Renewables, including biofuels and wind power, are projectedto increase at a rate of 6.6 percent per year, boosting theirshare of the total primary energy mix to 9 percent by 2035, upfrom 3 percent currently, BP said in its annual Energy Outlook2035.
The firm revised its forecast of renewables growth up by 14percent from last year due to faster-than-expected technologycost reductions, particularly for solar power, and inanticipation of government policies to further supportlow-carbon energy.
BP likened the surge in renewable power to oil's growth atthe beginning of the 20th century.
"The rate at which renewables gain share from 2020 to 2035matches oil's gain over the 15 years of 1908-23 - years thatincluded the Texas oil boom, the discovery of oil in the MiddleEast, the British Navy switching to oil, and the Model T Fordstarting mass motorization," BP said in the outlook.
Other renewables growth forecasts, however, are morebullish. Green energy policy network REN21 says renewable energycapacity grew by 8.5 percent in 2014 alone.
While renewable energy growth rises, coal growth will slowby 0.5 percent a year, resulting in its share of the primaryenergy mix falling to an all-time low of 25 percent by 2035,with gas replacing it as the world's second-largest fuel source,BP said.
In spite of this, carbon dioxide emissions are seen growingby 20 percent from 2014 to 2035. Their growth rate is expectedto more than halve to 0.9 percent a year over the next 20 yearscompared to 2.1 percent a year in the past 20 years.
BP said global energy demand is expected to grow by 34percent by 2035 while oil production is expected to double.
The full report can be found here: www.bp.com/energyoutlook
(Editing by Susanna Twidale)
