Big Solar: The Sun’s Rising Power
Chinese manufacturing power, falling prices, and technology breakthroughs have transformed the solar industry from a green niche into a mushrooming market.
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Solar power is the source of nearly all our energy. New technologies allow to harness it with growing efficiency (Photo: Reuters)
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Solar power is the source of nearly all our energy. New technologies allow to harness it with growing efficiency (Photo: Reuters)
“The Sun Always Shines on TV”, a famous Europop song in the 1980s, could be re-released for the 21st century, just slightly modified: nowadays, the sun always shines on PV.
Photovoltaic solar panels have become a symbol of renewable energy and a greener future – unfortunately, they still represent less than 0.1 percent of global energy production.
But growth is tremendous. Solar capacity in Germany, the world’s leading PV nation, will double in 2010 from 10GW to 20 GW, estimates the Swiss bank UBS. And despite Germany’s moderate climate, these solar panels do already produce massive amounts of electricity.
Figures from the European Energy Exchange show that solar power accounted for 10 percent of Germany’s electricity consumption during midday peak load on more than ten days in July 2010producing some 7GWh of solar power, comparable to the power output of seven nuclear power plants.
