solar energy john holecek esp 20061027. global energy production total energy production (wh)...
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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