Solar Energy

John HolecekESP 20061027

Global Energy production

• Total Energy Production (Wh)• 113750000000000000 (1.1 E17)

• Electricity Production (Wh)• 14687500000000000 (1.5 E16)

• Solar PV production (Wh)• 2800000000 (2.8 E9)

Solar Power Techniques and Applications

• Solar Thermal Systems for Heating Buildings and Water

• Solar Thermal-Electric Power Plants (Kramer Junction, CA)

• Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Systems• Off grid• On grid

Photovoltaic Cellconverts light directly into electricity

http://www.fsec.ucf.edu/pvt/pvbasics/

PV cell efficiency

Crystalline silicon

amorphous silicon

Jacobsson 2004 Transforming the energy system – The evolution of the German technological system for solar cells.pdf

PV abundance and price

Jacobsson 2004 Transforming the energy system – The evolution of the German technological system for solar cells

US costs ($/kWh) solar $.20 - .38 compared to industry avg. $.05 - .09(yr 2001)

Global production of solar cells

Jacobsson 2006 The politics and policy of energy system transformation - explaining the German diffusion of renewable energy technology

Internationally

http://www.solarbuzz.com/StatsCountries.htm

Per Capita Total

Swiss utilities applied innovative "solar energy exchanges" to provide a market mechanism matching the aggregated demand of customers willing to pay premium prices for solar electricity with solar power generators on long term supply contracts.

Solar potential in US

• PV modules covering 0.3% of the land in the U.S., equivalent to one fourth of the area currently occupied by railroads, could provide all of the US's electricity needs

• Unlikely due to historically inconsistent and ineffective energy policies

http://www.solardev.com/SEIA-lightworld.php

Japan Strong subsidies to develop solar technologies

• Policies facilitated investment • R&D• Production

• Now the leading producer of PV cells

Germany 1970s

• Concern of nuclear and acid rain led to advocacy for renewables, incl. solar

• Niche markets created to learn and develop technology

• Stable, consistent regulations

Germany 1980s

• Chernobyl, acid rain, climate change• Expanded markets• Large scale demonstration projects

250 MW wind and 1000 roofs solar

Germany 1990s Feed-in law• “Required utilities to connect

generators of electricity from renewable energy technology to the grid and to buy the electricity at a rate which for wind and solar cells amounted to 90% of the average tariff for final customers”

• Designed to level the playing field by taking into account external costs of conventional electricity generation

Jacobsson 2006

Germany 1990s

• Federal Feed-in Law• Additional and powerful financial

incentives to investors in renewables• Stronger advocacy group due to

increased participation• Successfully battled nuclear and

coal interests to maintain regulatory continuity

Germany policy today

• Strong demand continues to be driven by feed-in tariff arrangements and is complimented by specific programs in the Federal States and utility demonstration or pilot systems. In energy research, alongside the existing Fourth Program, a Fifth Program (2006 – 2008) will seek to examine production, cost reductions and considerations of environmental issues in manufacturing and operation of PV.

• Connections to the grid are seen as routine and many utilities participate in the PV market. Public knowledge and perception of PV are high, mainly as a result of the high numbers of distributed grid-connected systems installed.

http://www.iea-pvps.org/isr/index.htm

Four key features

• Institutional change of energy R&D policy

• Formation of market in protected niches

• Entry of business firms• Establishment of advocacy groups

Case for subsidies of PV

Catch-22• PV not used much because of high cost• High cost because of low use of PV

• Create technology specific market • Investment subsidies• Cost covering prices

• Caveats• Generate self-sustained growth• Capture future markets

• Cost reductions of 0.8* for PV lead to competitive pricing in 2021

•*0.8 = cost decreases 0.2/production doubling

Diffusion of new technologies must be economical

• Electricity from renewable resources is reasonable in terms of overall cost to society, and cost will be amortized within typical large infrastructure investment timescales

Resources

• http://www.iea-pvps.org/index.html• http://www.solarbuzz.com• http://www.eia.doe.gov/fuelrenewable.html• http://www.solardev.com/SEIA-lightworld.php• Jacobsson, S. et al. 2004 Technology Analysis and

Strategic Management• Sanden, Bjorn 2005 Solar Energy• Heiman and Solomon 2004 Annals of the Association of

American Geographers• Sanden and Azar 2005 Energy Policy• Jacobsson and Lauber 2006 Energy Policy