Kategori : ELECTRICITY ENERGY NEWS, ENERGY AGENDA NEWS, SOLAR ENERGY NEWS - Tarih : 08 November 2021
With countries racing to end their reliance on the fossil fuels that cause climate change, it’s a boom time for renewable energy. Now, an international team of researchers has determined that if every available rooftop was equipped with solar panels, they could generate enough electricity to power the world.
In addition, rooftop solar has the advantage of both reducing local air pollution—where it replaces conventional fossil fuel-based energy generation—and reducing transmission network loads by decentralizing electricity supply. And, unlike almost any other form of energy generation, it can do all 
that without impacting the land and ecosystems, as it is installed exclusively on existing buildings.
Nevertheless, to achieve the full potential of rooftop solar, certain necessary conditions would have to be met. Crucially, given that solar power by definition can only generate power during the day, the deployment of storage in the form of batteries and smart grids that can coordinate supply and demand will be critical.
The findings emerge in the context of what can only be described as the dawn of a golden age for renewable energy. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), between 2010 and 2020 the costs of generating electricity from utility-level solar fell a precipitous 85%. As reported in this column, some researchers believe the falling costs of renewables could push fossil fuels out of electricity generation altogether by 2035.
That’s just as well. Under the net‐zero emissions scenario developed by the International Energy Agency (IEA), which the agency says is the pathway the world needs to take to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, wind and solar power will need to provide at least 70% of total electricity generation by mid-century. Right now, the IEA says, 25 million rooftops around the world already have solar PV installed. To get to net zero emissions, “the number increases to 100 million rooftops by 2030 and 240 million by 2050.”
Source: Forbes
