Solar Energy

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Solar Energy

• John Holecek
• ESP 20061027

2
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)

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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

4
Photovoltaic Cellconverts light directly into
electricity
http//www.fsec.ucf.edu/pvt/pvbasics/
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PV cell efficiency
Crystalline silicon
amorphous silicon
Jacobsson 2004 Transforming the energy system
The evolution of the German technological system
for solar cells.pdf
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PV abundance and price
US costs (/kWh) solar .20 - .38 compared to
industry avg. .05 - .09 (yr 2001)
Jacobsson 2004 Transforming the energy system
The evolution of the German technological system
for solar cells
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Global production of solar cells
Jacobsson 2006 The politics and policy of energy
system transformation - explaining the German
diffusion of renewable energy technology
8
Internationally
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.
http//www.solarbuzz.com/StatsCountries.htm
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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
10
Japan Strong subsidies to develop solar
technologies

• Policies facilitated investment
• RD
• Production
• Now the leading producer of PV cells

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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

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Germany 1980s

• Chernobyl, acid rain, climate change
• Expanded markets
• Large scale demonstration projects 250 MW wind
  and 1000 roofs solar

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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
14
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

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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
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Four key features

• Institutional change of energy RD policy
• Formation of market in protected niches
• Entry of business firms
• Establishment of advocacy groups

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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

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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

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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