Hot Solar Photovoltaics
February 28, 2008, FeedThe fastest growing renewable energy technology in the world is the grid-connected solar photovoltaics. According to recent report of REN21, a global forum on renewable energy, the world’s total grid-connected solar photovoltaics (PV) passed 10 GW landmark in 2007. The three leading countries (Germany, Japan and the USA) represent about 90% of the total worldwide PV installed capacity. A new production facility in China is projected to be one of the largest solar photovoltaics factories in the world, with an annual capacity of around 1,500MW.
Germany leads the global market with about 50% of the global PV installed capacity by adding 1 GW in 2006, Japan added about 300 MW, the United States and Spain added about 100 MW each in 2006. The Spanish solar PV market demonstrated the fastest growth in 2007. Italy and Greece also demonstrated strong growth in in a view of favorable policies. France and Italy are lagging behind, each with mere 15 MW installed in 2007.
California remains the leader in the US, capturing about two thirds of the US market. Korea is a one of the emerging PV pioneers in Asia.
Solar photovoltaicsis expected to provide 0.4% of the world’s Total Primary Energy Supply (TPES) for the year 2010, from 0.04 in 2004.
The 89 petawatts of sunlight reaching the earth’s surface is more than enough, actually 6,000 times more, to cover the 15 terawatts of average power consumed by humankind.
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