Page 460 - A Comprehensive Guide to Solar Energy Systems

Chapter 24 • Global Growth Trends and the Future of Solar Power 473

In global terms, the deployment of solar power has gone through a major shift. As previ­
ously outlined, the initial major development of solar power was in Europe, and through 2015,
Europe remained the globally dominant region for solar deployment. In 2015, Europe still
represented over half of the total deployment of solar power globally. Additionally, in 2016,
Europe became the first region to reach the landmark of 100 GW of installed capacity. This
was a major achievement, but was quickly equaled and surpassed by the Asia Pacific region,
which went on to record a total solar deployment of over 140 GW by the end of 2016 [1]. Asia
is now the powerhouse of solar power deployment, and this is a trend that is set to continue.
In 2016, India joined the group of countries turning to solar power. Prime minister
modi launched the International Solar Alliance (ISA) in 2015 at the united nations Confer­
ence of the Parties (CoP) 21 meeting in Paris. The ISA brings together over 120 countries
that commit to making solar power the core of their energy supply [11]. having taken this
bold step with but a handful of gigawatts installed in India, the necessity for action to back
political deeds became apparent. India quickly set itself a target of reaching 100 GW of in­
stalled solar by 2022 [12]. This would require a rate of deployment close to 20 GW per year
on average, but the plan clearly identified the need for a ramped­up approach. Adding
5 GW in 2016, India doubled its installed capacity; the expectation is that this market will
indeed be the next major boom in the solar sector [13]. For this to happen, much depends
on getting the system to support such deployment in India, but Prime minister modi is
already actively pursuing matters, such as interstate electricity supply and speeding up
application processes. The only danger comes from the use of local content requirements,
which threaten to add instability to the market for investors.
outside of Asia and Europe, there have been small but growing solar power markets.
The Paris Climate Change Agreement has set in place a framework for solar power to
be deployed in many more markets across Africa, the middle East, Central Asia, and the
Americas. In the Americas, there have been a number of countries where solar has seen
recent significant growth.
not least of these is the united States, which has seen a dramatic increase in the
deployment of solar power in the past 4 years. This has been spurred on by the obama
Presidency, and in 2016 the united States became the second largest annual market for
solar power globally with an installed capacity of over 14 GW; the rate of deployment
almost doubled in comparison to 2015 [1]. This was driven by the Investment Tax Credit
(ITC) that offered an incentive of around 30% of the cost of a solar system for consum­
ers. With the price of solar already falling, this incentive scheme gave critical weight to
see the united States become an important global leader in solar power. The solar sec­
tor has become one of the most dynamic in the uS energy business; it is estimated that
more people work in the solar sector than in the combined gas, oil, and coal sectors in
the united States today [14]. The dynamism of the uS market has also resulted in the
solar sector trail blazing with new business models, such as power purchasing agree­
ments (PPAs) directly between solar developers and large corporates, third party owner­
ship schemes, and net metering [15].