Solar Trends from IEA

http://beforeitsnews.com/news/44/572/Solar_Energy_Could_Provide_25_of_World_Electricity.html

The International Energy Agency (IEA) presented two new analyses in Valencia, Spain this week, a Solar Photovoltaic Energy Technology Roadmap and a Concentrating Solar Power Technology Roadmap. 1bog reports.

A key long-term finding from these analyses is that 20-25% of global electricity production could be from solar electricity by 2050.

We’re curious: how does the US fit into that, and how much of this will be residential solar?

Together, IEA found that photovoltaic solar (aka ‘solar PV‘) and concentrating solar power could create 9,000 Terawatt hours of electricity in 2050, with solar PV providing approximately half of that.

As of 2008, IEA reported that the US had 1.2 Gigawatts of installed solar PV. Although the total amount has been rising over the years, the US’ percentage of the world total has declined, from 18% in 2000 to 13% in 2004 to 8% in 2008. Germany and Spain, with strong world-leading solar policies, have grown at a much faster rate. Nonetheless, recent analyses by the Solar Energies Industry Association (SEIA) in its 2009 US Solar Industry Year in Review show a steep rise in installed capacity in 2009 and a lot in the pipeline (indiciating that this steep rise may continue for awhile).





The average cost of solar PV has dropped significantly and combined with innovative group buying programs like 1BOG offers and government incentives, many more people are putting solar panels on their houses and businesses.

Prices for solar PV modules dropped 40% since mid-2008 and average installed capacity cost fell approximately 10% from 2008-2009 (see graph below).

Largely as a result of this, installed solar capacity at the end of 2009 rose to 2.1 Gigawatts in the US according to SEIA.



The European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) also recently reported that “The U.S. [PV electricity] market finally took off significantly with around 477 MW installed in 2009 and appears as a potential leading market for the coming years.”

Environment America has reported that 35-40% of homes nationwide could have PV installed on them. With 13% of utilities believing that centralized electric generation will be obsolete by 2050 and rooftop solar installations growing faster than utility-scale solar, this may not be a fairytale dream but an actual possibility.

There are a lot of incentives out there and people are finally doing it. Want to join the solar wave? Look into putting solar on your home or business today.

Government’s Role

Of course, as Environment America reported a couple months ago when they predicted that 10% or more of total electricity consumption in the US could come from solar energy by 2020, clear policies to support solar energy need to be implemented soon in order to achieve these levels. Progressive policies need to be implemented to make sure solar achieves grid parity and becomes competitive with other forms of electricity.

“This decade is crucial for effective policies to enable the development of solar electricity,” IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka said. “Long-term oriented, predictable solar-specific incentives are needed to sustain early deployment and bring both technologies to competitiveness in the most suitable locations and times.”