The Next 40 Years

 Technology Roadmap; Solar photovoltaic energy, from the International Energy Agency (IEA), complements the simultaneously released report on concentrating solar power (CSP) described in THE WAY TO BIG SUN.   

As the IEA sees the future - together, photovoltaic (PV) solar – which uses the sun’s light – and CSP – which uses the sun’s heat – can generate over 22% of the world’s electricity by the middle of this century. PV will provide half of that, generating 11% of world electricity by 2050.

Demonstrating the IEA’s fundamentally conservative bent, the PV and CSP  Roadmaps are part of a thorough scientific, economic and policy assessment of 19 New Energy options in pursuit of identifying the best path to the IEA’s (completely inadequate) goal of a 50% reduction in world CO2 emissions by 2050.

Unlike CSP, which requires a special high-saturation type of sun, PV requires no special Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI) of sunlight. It can be (and has been) put to work almost anywhere there is sunlight. World PV capacity has grown an average of 40% per year in this century and the world’s spending on PV research and development doubled in the 21st century’s first decade, from $250 million in 2000 to $500 million (in 2007). At current rates of growth and technological advancement, the IEA expects PV solar to be price competitive in the most sun-saturated parts of the world by 2020.
 

When solar PV achieves widespread cost competitiveness with other sources of grid supply, the “effective, long-term and balanced” policies that helped build manufacturing capacity and deployment will “evolve” into those that support self-sustaining PV markets. Financial incentives will phase out in favor of those that obtain and maintain grid access and integration, ongoing investment in R&D and international cooperation in building capacity for emerging economies.

Source:   Renewable Energy World    To read the full article click here.