The off-grid solar sector has shown resilience in the face of pandemic-related challenges, with 70 million people gaining access to electricity from early 2020 to the end of 2021.

Off-grid solar continues to expand

Despite the pressure the pandemic has placed on supply chains and income levels, the number of people who source electricity from solar energy kits has continued to grow and has now reached 490 million.

According to the “Off-Grid Solar Market Trends Report 2022: State of The Sector” report – published by the World Bank’s Lighting Global, International Finance Corp. (IFC), GOGLA, Efficiency for Access Coalition, and Open Capital Advisors – the number of people who use solar energy kits had grown by 70 million by the end of 2021, up from 420 million in 2019.

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Source: PV Magazine

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The record 99.4 TW hours the EU generated in solar electricity this summer meant it didn’t need to buy 20 billion cubic metres of fossil gas.

Here’s how solar energy saved Europeans $29 billion this summer

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Solar power is helping Europe navigate an energy crisis of “unprecedented proportions” and save billions of euros in avoided gas imports, a new report finds.

Record solar power generation in the European Union this summer helped the 27-country grouping save around $29 billion in fossil gas imports, according to Ember, an energy think tank.

With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine severely threatening gas supplies to Europe, and both gas and electricity prices at record highs, the figures show the critical importance of solar power as part of Europe’s energy mix, the organization says.

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Source: World Economic Forum

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Africa leads the way in terms of the average potential of solar energy around the world, finds Statista.

Africa leads the world in solar power potential, research finds

Figures from the Global Solar Atlas for The World Bank, as analyzed by Statista, reveal the average potential of solar energy around the world and as this infographic shows, Africa is out in front. When combining the average long-term practical yield of a utility scale solar energy installation in each country, Africa’s 4.51 kWh/kWp/day is ahead of second-placed Central & South America’s 4.48, while North America is further behind on 4.37.

The assessments “exclude areas due to physical/technical constraints, such as rugged terrain, presence of urbanized/industrial areas, forests, and areas that are too distant from the centers of human activity”, but do not consider “soft constraints, i.e., areas that might be unsuitable due to regulations imposed by national or regional authorities (such as conservation of cropland or nature conservation)”.

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Source: World Economic Forum

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The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 extended that tax credit for the decade to come, and we can expect solid continued growth again.

Inflation Reduction Act to give US solar energy industry a much needed boost

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The U.S. solar energy industry has grown tremendously in the past decade. That growth has actually been one of the most phenomenal economic growth stories across the whole U.S. economy. However, the “Covid Era” hit solar hard, and it has struggled to get back on the trajectory it was on.

The latest industry-wide data we have from the U.S. Solar Energy Industries Association and Wood Mackenzie show a near leveling off of growth. (Note that all of the following data and analysis from these parties comes from before the passing or even introduction of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.)

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Source: Clean Technica

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2021 was a “breakout year” for photovoltaics combined with storage projects, which accounted for 67 of the 74 hybrid projects added in the US

Solar + storage breaks out in 2021 as hybrid systems surpass standalone storage

Driven by falling battery prices and the growth of variable renewable generation, hybrid and co-located energy projects — mainly solar combined with battery storage — are surging across the United States.

There were 298 hybrid projects in the United States totaling 35.9 GW of generating capacity with 3.2 GW/8.1 GWh of storage by the end of last year, according to the report. Nearly half the projects were solar with storage with the rest a mixture of wind, fossil-fuel generation, nuclear generation and other resources in various configurations.

Some 74 hybrid projects started operating last year, up 32% from 2020 and totaling 6.1 GW, a 21% increase from the previous year, according to the report, which covers projects larger than 1 MW. Many of the projects involved adding batteries to existing generating facilities in California and Florida, the researchers said.

Also, there were 70% more hybrid plants in interconnection queues at the end of last year compared to 2020, the LBNL researchers said.

 

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Source: Utility Dive

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In California, batteries now contribute 60 times more to peak capacity than they did in 2017.

Batteries are already helping power grids weather a hotter world

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On Tuesday, the UK Met Office recorded the country’s first-ever temperature above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) at London’s Heathrow Airport just before 1 p.m., as temperatures were still rising. High demand sent power prices in the UK up 5% in one day.

Across the Channel, things have been even more volatile. Europe’s heat wave has reduced France’s available nuclear power, as the river water used to cool nuclear plants became too hot to be effective. As a result, day-ahead baseload power prices settled at 610 euros per megawatt-hour — about 10 times higher than prices from 2017 to 2021.

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Source: Bloomberg

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Since 2007, annual installations of pv power generation have grown from 22GW to about 240GW expected this year with a compound rate of 34.5%

Solar growth estimates for 2050 are aggressive, but not unrealistic

Two key findings from BP Plc’s annual deep dive on global energy statistics are that renewable electricity has grown at an extraordinary clip in the past two decades, and it still has very far to go. Solar and wind have expanded by orders of magnitude and now make up more than 10% of global electricity; that also means that these two technologies need to scale up market share by several factors — as the electricity system as a whole grows too — in order to decarbonize power substantially.

Of the two, solar is the smaller contributor, but with the faster growth rate. And what a growth rate it is. Since 2007, annual installations of photovoltaic power generation have grown from 22 gigawatts to about 240 gigawatts expected this year. That’s a compound rate of 34.5%, meaning it takes barely more than two years for annual installations to double, on average.

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Source: Bloomberg

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The estimated US electric power sector by June is 65 GW of utility-scale solar-generating capacity and 138 GW of wind capacity.

EIA expects solar & wind to be larger sources of US electricity generation this summer

From Clean Technica:

In our Summer Electricity Outlook, a supplement to our May 2022 Short-Term Energy Outlook, we expect the largest increases in U.S. electric power sector generation this summer will come from renewable energy sources. These increases are the result of new capacity additions. We forecast utility-scale solar generation between June and August 2022 will grow by 10 million megawatt-hours (MWh) compared with the same period last summer, and wind generation will grow by 8 million MWh. Forecast generation from coal and natural gas declines by 26 million MWh this summer, although natural gas generation could increase in some electricity markets where coal supplies are constrained.

Wind and solar power electric-generating capacity has been growing steadily in recent years. By the start of June, we estimate the U.S. electric power sector will have 65 gigawatts (GW) of utility-scale solar-generating capacity, a 31% increase in solar capacity since June 2021. Almost one-third of this new solar capacity will be built in the Texas electricity market. The electric power sector will also have an estimated 138 GW of wind capacity online this June, which is a 12% increase from last June.

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Source: Clean Technica

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How California can get to a reliable, 85% clean grid by 2030

Can California really rely on gigawatts of solar and wind power and batteries, plus long-duration energy storage systems and ​“firm” carbon-free resources like geothermal power plants, to replace the need for most of its fossil-fueled power by the end of the decade? And can it do so without driving power prices through the roof or exposing the state to the risk of major blackouts?

Yes, new modeling suggests — but the state is likely to be more successful if it dramatically ramps up offshore wind and geothermal power and depends less than previous forecasts have suggested on new utility-scale solar farms.

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Source: Canary Media

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A better way to clean solar panels

Solar power is expected to account for 10% of global power generation by 2030, and much of that power is likely to be harvested in desert areas, where sunlight is abundant. But the accumulation of dust on solar panels or mirrors can reduce the output of photovoltaic panels by as much as 30% in just one month.

The regular cleaning that solar panels require currently is estimated to use about 10 billion gallons of water per year—enough to supply drinking water for up to 2 million people. Water cleaning also makes up about 10% of the operating costs of solar installations since water typically has to be trucked in from a distance and must be very pure to avoid leaving deposits on the surfaces. But waterless cleaning methods are less effective and labor-intensive and tend to scratch the panels, which also reduces their efficiency.

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Source: MIT Technology Review

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