I am extremely passionate about renewable energy, and I always like to read news about everything that’s going on in this sector of activity. It’s also one of the industries I invest in the most, as I find renewable energy startups to be future proof.

Not only do they work for the benefit of humanity, but they also show a strong potential of becoming profitable in the next couple of years.

The entire sector stands to be affected by policymakers and the decisions they make, but we too, as a society, have a strong word to say on the topic at hand.

Suppose we want to keep the Earth a nice, safe, and green place for our children to enjoy and for us. In that case, we should all pay a lot more attention to renewable energy startups that are reshaping the way we produce, distribute, and consume energy on both a local and global level.

Types of renewable energy

Let’s quickly go over the types of renewable energy covered by most startups interested in this domain. To be called renewable energy, the resources you use need to come from sources regenerated naturally.

The top green energy sources we know how to use today are: Water (hydropower and hydrokinetic), Wind, Solar (power and hot water), Biomass (biofuel and biopower), and Geothermal (power and heating).

Now that we’ve covered a little bit about what forms the basis of renewable energy, I would like to go over the TOP 10 renewable energy trends for 2022, as identified by StartUs Insights.

They covered several startups and scaleups activating in the field of green and renewable energy to assess the biggest industry trends of the moment.

Their research can be used for improving strategic decision-making at a global level by applying a data-driven approach, based on the numbers provided in the study.

Now let us go over some of these spectacular trends for 2022.

1. Advanced Photovoltaics (PV) is the top “green” trend of 2022

More and more startups are getting into the photovoltaics business, as newer technologies and regulations allow this line of business to develop in a profitable way for all parties involved.

Startups are now building thin-film cells which make solar panels more flexible, lighter, easier to transport and cheaper to build. And we all know what happens when production costs go down.

The product’s price also becomes more affordable for a larger segment of the population, which automatically leads to higher adoption rates.

Once that happens, the snowball effect is in place and we will see more companies and homeowners, opting for advanced photovoltaic technology. This larger-scale adoption will not only lead to lower electricity bills, but it will also lead to a “greener” energy consumption worldwide.

Let’s just hope that regulations will continue to support the development of this technology and incentivize startups to activate in this specific renewable energy area.

2. Artificial Intelligence and Big Data are on everybody’s lips right now

You’ve probably heard people talking about artificial intelligence and big data left and right, but it’s not often you hear about these innovative technologies in relation to green energy. Right?

Well, this is just one of the trends predicted for the renewable energy sector in 2022. It’s hard to understand the complex infrastructure behind artificial intelligence and big data.

But it’s easy to understand that these technologies can be used to make the entire decision-making process even more effective, and they can eliminate the room left for human error.

When it comes to energy usage, AI and Big Data have proven to be extremely cost-effective and time-efficient in forecasting power consumption and predicting the maintenance periods for electrical grids.

All of this means that we can start automating power grids worldwide, eliminating potential costly power outages, by predicting most of the technical errors that take place today.

Sure, this will not put an end to power shortages, but it will be a step in the right direction to a better distribution of our energy resources, especially in places where it is needed the most.

3. More startups are involved in developing Distributed Energy Storage Systems

DESS is the process of localizing renewable energy generation and storage, which leads to overcoming most of the irregularities found in production.

But these words are too technical, and to understand new industry trends, we should not necessarily be specialists in green energy.

To put things in a more comprehensible manner, DESS allows startups to offer a wide range of battery and batteryless solutions, tailored for each region’s financial requirements (and they also analyze other aspects).

Taking into consideration a lot of factors, startups activating in DESS will develop new batteryless storage alternatives.

Worth mentioning could be the pumped hydro and compressed air technologies, which are highly likely to be a game-changer in the field of green energy in 2022, and beyond.

Managing to create alternative forms of energy storage and finding a way to convert any energy surplus into other forms of energy much more needed in an area is one of the planet’s biggest challenges and kudos to those startups and their visionary entrepreneurs that embark on such exciting missions!

4. Hydro Power will continue to evolve as one of the “engines” of green energy worldwide

Hydropower’s no new thing when it comes to renewable energy, but this doesn’t mean that constant developments are not taking place.

The main advantage of this green resource is that it’s much more predictable and quantifiable than solar or wind power, which makes it more attractive to investors and more pragmatic entrepreneurs.

However, this sector still faces problems when it comes to “harvesting” all the energy it can collect from water sources.

“Green” startups have been searching for decades for ways to make hydro power more efficient, and 2022 may just be that breakthrough year where one company (or a group of companies) will produce solutions to take things to the next level.

At least that’s what I’m counting on.

5. Wind Energy will reach new heights this year

Wind energy has been used for centuries now, and it’s hard to consider it a trend when it comes to green energy. Especially in 2022.

However, being a staple of our society for such a long time, wind energy has witnessed several innovation periods throughout the ages.

Currently, several startups are working on offshore and airborne wind turbines to produce cheaper wind energy, without taking a toll on lands that could be more productively put to use in agriculture, or other sectors of activity.

Some of the innovations include floating wind turbines which also produce solar energy. So, you’re getting two green energy sources from a single device, which makes the cost-to-earnings ratio even more attractive to investors worldwide.

Not only will these startups be able to produce more energy, at lower costs, but they’ll also be able to create better storage facilities and more efficient distribution processes.

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