State-of-the-Art Review of Emerging Trends in Renewable Energy Generation Technologies

Renewable energy generation sector has grown rapidly over the past decade, driven by increasing investments, heightened political and public support, and advancements in technology. This review highlights recent technological developments in the sector and analyzes the state-of-the-art to uncover major overarching trends. The findings suggest that the main maturation directions for emerging renewable technologies are towards harnessing new untapped sources of renewables and combining energy generation with additional value creation for more versatile and effective land, infrastructure, or labor utilization. The overarching concept is clear: generating greater economic or environmental value with minimal investment. The key emerging technological trends were identified as the development of means for: distributed small-scale generation, large-scale land versatility, and accessing marine renewables. Notable examples of maturing technologies with significant deployment include agrivoltaics, floating photovoltaics, and floating wind, all of which are on track to becoming industrial standard practices. Looking ahead, the deployment of renewable energy technologies is expected to accelerate over the next decade, driven by rising demand, improved access to new energy resources, trends toward grid decentralization, expanding utility-scale energy storage solutions, and the economic benefits of co-located, multi-purpose installations.