IEA says world needs utility-scale PV
06. September 2010 | Brandon MitchenerThe International Energy Agency says PV will need to make major gains in the world’s energy supply between now and 2050, including boosting utility-scale power.
Cedric Philibert of the IEA told the EPIA PV Industry Summit in Valencia, Spain, that while rooftops will provide some of this increase, “there will have to be utility-scale PV systems and off-grid systems” as well.
Most solar subsidies today go to support rooftop PV development. Rooftop solar PV will have to reach grid parity by 2020 in order to remain viable, he said. He noted that PV is already competitive in some markets, including off-grid power. Don’t forget that a lot of developing countries do crazy things like burning diesel fuel to power generators in remote locations. Sometimes they literally have to truck drums of diesel over crap roads through the bush to get to a place where the sun beats down every day…..
Philibert said he thought PV would mainly be used to meet peak electricity needs, while other renewable energies, including concentrated solar power, would be used to create steady “baseload” power even when the sun isn’t shining.
While many people portray PV and CSP (concentrated solar power) as competing technologies, Philibert said they are “more complementary than competitive”, given that CSP requires direct sunlight and semi-arid environments in order to function efficiently, whereas PV is more versatile.
The Desertec Industrial Initiative, which started out as a largely CSP-driven initiative to harness the power of the desert sun, now includes a number of PV players, including First Solar. First Solar has already built a number of PV power plants in desert areas, including Masdar City and the U.S. desert Southwest. Both PV and CSP need further investments in grid infrastructures in order to achieve their full potential, Philibert concluded.
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