Globally, many governments and industries are chalking out strategies to acquire renewable energy technologies as they want to control challenges from climate change.

Renewable sources of energy such as hydro, wind, solar and biomass are the focus areas of the European energy industry. Climate change has already moved up the agenda for several governments as they want to reduce green house gas (GHG) emissions, reduce energy consumption and ensure security of supply.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said the total world consumption of marketed energy will increase by 49 percent between 2007 and 2035. Renewables are expected to be the fastest-growing source of world energy, according to David Appleyard, conference director at Renewable Energy World Europe (REWE).

The transformation of renewables from niche interest to major driver in the global energy arena will be addressed at this year's REWE conference.

EIA says renewables consumption will increase by 2.6 percent per year. The growth will be driven by factors such as projected oil prices, concern about the environmental impact of fossil fuels, and government incentives for increasing the use of renewable energy.

The binding EU-wide target to source 20 percent of Europe’s energy needs from renewables by 2020 has played a major role in elevating the importance and development of renewable energy, Appleyard added.

The usage of renewables in the energy mix poses new challenges. They generate intermittent power and hence balancing demand and supply on the grid becomes more complex, which has driven interest in the smart grid concept but has yet to see widespread adoption, with cost being a major hurdle. Financing generally remains a major challenge for the renewable sector and other clean energy projects.

According to a report from United Nations Environment Program and the Renewable Energy Policy Network, about 60 percent of new capacity in Europe came from renewables, and in the U.S., it was over 50 percent. In terms of total electricity capacity, renewables currently account for 25 percent globally.