Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Global Renewables Watch?
The Global Renewables Watch is a first-of-its-kind living atlas intended to map and measure all utility-scale solar and wind installations on Earth using artificial intelligence (AI) and satellite imagery, allowing users to evaluate clean energy transition progress and track trends over time. In this exciting project, Microsoft is providing the AI and platform technology, Planet is contributing the underlying satellite imagery, and The Nature Conservancy is overlaying the subject matter expertise to analyze the output.
What is the problem the Global Renewables Watch is solving?
About three-quarters of global greenhouse gas emissions come from energy use, meaning a rapid, massive shift to clean energy is urgently needed for the world to get to net-zero emissions by 2050. In order to manage this transition, the world needs access to data that helps both researchers and policymakers understand current capacities and gaps, and assists decision-makers in search of more efficient and effective options for renewable energy development. The dynamic Global Renewables Watch aims to provide that critical data, on a biannual basis, to allow users to evaluate clean energy transition progress and track trends over a period of time rather than as a moment in time.
What differentiates this tool from those other organizations have built?
There have been many important efforts to map solar and wind capacity, and GRW is designed to complement them. Succinctly, the GRW is unique in 3 ways:
- It is a time series, not a snapshot – the GRW monitors progress and trends over a period of time vs. a moment in time
- It is regularly updated – the GRW plans to release bi-annual updates of the atlas
- It documents development patterns, not just the development – the GRW tracks progress on renewable energy targets at a country-by-country basis, as well as accounts for underlying patterns where this development may cause conflicts