Within the next 10 years solar energy will become the cheapest source of electricity.
By Rakesh Agrawal
Sun, the primary and ultimate source of power that enlightens the world during the day, could soon fill our nights also with light. And, it will also run all our electric devices, factories, vehicles and buildings. In short, the sun will soon be generating electricity and that’s too cheap electricity and pollution-less, with no submergence of lands & forests and displacement of people or threat of radioactive radiation being leaked like today because of traditional methods of electricity generation by thermal, hydro and nuclear routes.
International Energy Agency, an autonomous organization that works to ensure reliable, affordable and clean energy for its 29 member countries and beyond, tells us how solar energy could be the largest source of electricity by mid-century through its report.
It also has a roadmap and while, solar photovoltaic systems could generate up to 16% of the world’s electricity by 2050, solar thermal electricity from concentrating solar power plants could provide an additional 11%, in total they could prevent the emission of more than 6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year by 2050, more than all current energy-related CO2 emissions from the United States or almost all of the direct emissions from the transport sector worldwide today.
Already, the world has started walking towards it as 137 GW of capacity has already been installed worldwide by 2013 and is adding up to 100 MW each day.
Little wonder, experts like the American futurist Ray Kurzweil predicts that solar energy will supply the word’s 100 percent electricity needs in just 14 years.
China is the leading country in this regard, followed by the United States and India. And now, the Middle East and Africa is also following, with solar power installed at households, shopping malls or industries and even the airports as the world’s first airport that is solely run by solar power started at Kochi, Kerala, India last year.
Live Science also predicts solar energy to be the main and the cheapest source of power in its report. Power of the Future: 10 Ways to Run the 21st Century
It will be the cheapest source of power as the cost of photovoltaics (solar panels) continuing to decline, sys a report released by German think tank, Agora Energiewende, was commissioned to steer Germany towards its 80% renewable energy target.
“The technology still has further improvements so we expect that within the next 10 years photovoltaics will become, in many regions of the world, the cheapest source of electricity,” said CEO Dr Patrick Graichen and mentions that solar photovoltaic prices have fallen by 80% since 2008 because of cheap modules and large scale production in China. And, by 2020, solar energy will be priced as ‘cheap’ as energy produced today.
India plans to install 100GW capacity of solar power by 2022, while China aims to achieve 100GW of solar power capacity by 2020. Already many international companies have offered solar energy to state electricity boards in India at very cheap rate as Skypower Global of Canada offered electricity to Madhya Pradesh at Rs. 5.05 kilowatt/hour, America’s SunEdison to Andhra Pradesh at Rs. 4.63 kilowatts/hour and a Finish Company, Fortum, to Rajasthan, at only Rs. 2.01 kilowatt/hour!
And, the solar power the world over is increasing by leaps and bounds as the global installed capacity of solar electricity has increased by six times to 135GW in 2013 from 23GW in 2010.
This is being made possible as new researches have resulted in a faster rate of conversion of sunlight into power with above 40% of conversion of sunlight into power was reported by researchers at the University of New South Wales.
With the price of photovoltaic cells falling down as reported in the Computer World, in just two years, solar will reach price parity in nearly all U.S. states with traditional electrical generation.
This would make the world a lot safer place to live.