Page 21 - A Comprehensive Guide to Solar Energy Systems

Chapter 1 • Why Solar Energy? 13

Table 1.6 Installed Solar PV Power Capacity by Country [42]
Countries Solar Power/(%)
China 23
USA 14
Japan 14
Germany 13
Italy 6
Rest of world 30

Looking at the list in Table 1.6, one is struck by the fact that most solar installations have
been in regions with relatively poor solar resources (Europe, Japan, and China) while the
potential in high resource regions (Africa and Middle East) remains relatively untapped.
Tax credits through Government policies have contributed to the development of the most
mature solar markets (Europe and the United States). With solar power costs falling rap-
idly and with grid parity having been achieved in many countries, the solar PV industry is
fast changing as emerging and developing nations enter the solar PV age. A start has been
made in dubai with the announcement on June 5, 2017 by the dubai Electricity and Water
Authority for four 200 MW installations at the newly created Mohammed bin Rashid Al
Maktoum Solar Park. It will also include a 1 GW CSP tower for generating steam to pro-
duce electricity. The plan is to have a total solar PV power generating capacity of 5 GW by
2030, which is in line with dubai’s clean-energy strategy of generating 75% of its electricity
needs from renewable energy by 2050 [43].
Earlier this year (February 2017), there was a report that Morocco was building a solar
farm (Quarzazate Solar Complex) of 160 MW, increasing to 580 MW capacity with plans for
solar developments of up to 15 GW in the future. The plan is that much of the electricity
produced will be exported north to Europe and east to Mecca [44]. other countries in the
Middle East (Egypt and the United Arab Emirates) are now joining with Morocco through
the Middle East Solar Industry Association (MESIA) with plans for their own new solar PV
developments [45].
The rapid development of new and improved solar cell technologies (Chapters 9–12);
the fallings cost of solar cells; and the surge in development of storing energy from renew-
able energy sources, will undoubtedly hasten the aforementioned predictions.
one new development that could have a major impact on the future growth within the
solar PV industry is the building of floating solar farms (see the cover photograph of this
book). one of the world’s biggest floating solar farm is in China [46]; it is a 40 MW power
plant with 160 000 panels resting on a lake. Aside from producing green energy, an added
advantage to a floating solar farm is the reduction of evaporation from the lake’s surface. It
is of some interest that news broke of this new development on the day that donald Trump
considered pulled the United States out of the Paris Accord on climate change. A smaller
floating solar farm (6.3 MW capacity) is currently being built on the Queen Elizabeth II
reservoir near Heathrow airport [47]. While China remains the world’s biggest emitter of
Co 2 , with two-third of its electricity still fuelled by coal, it is making great strides to wean
itself off a fossil fuel dependency (Chapter 2).