Unprecedented growth seen for solar energy
February 6, 2009 The Blade, Toledo, OhioThe head of the federal government's effort to promote solar technology told about 200 industry leaders yesterday that expanding the industry to the level needed by 2030 will require unprecedented levels of growth.
"To go from the 1 gigawatt of generation capacity that we have now [in the United States] to the 170 to 200 gigawatts called for by 2030 amounts to a 26 percent compounded annual growth rate over the next 20 years," John Lushetsky explained. "That's a higher sustained growth rate than any industry has ever been asked to do before."
Mr. Lushetsky is program manager of the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Energy Technology Program for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
He was the keynote speaker at a day-long conference in the Dana Center at the University of Toledo's Health Science Campus called "Empowering Solar Energy in Ohio."
The conference drew industry participants from Ohio and Michigan.
Colleen LaChapelle, assistant director of the Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization at the University of Toledo, said what started as a small conference grew over the last week in part because of the tremendous opportunity for growth in the industry.
"The resources of our area match up very well to what this industry needs," Ms. LaChapelle said.
Mr. Lushetsky predicted that the solar energy industry -- including manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors -- ultimately could employ 4 million people. But he noted tremendous challenges are involved as the public and private sectors work to incorporate solar energy into a national electrical grid that's in need of its own upgrade.
"We really can't wait for things to happen on their own," Mr. Lushetsky said, explaining how public and private efforts will have to cooperate to incorporate solar into the nation's energy portfolio, including provisions of the federal stimulus package making its way through Congress.
He complimented the efforts done locally and across Ohio to promote and encourage solar companies and their development, citing First Solar Inc. and Xunlight Corp., two solar-panel makers with plants in metro Toledo.
"You've got a very good environment here for startups," he said.
(c) 2009 MCT
Dec 23, 2009 |
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6 hours ago
Even with this supposed exponential growth, which can only continue if generous subsidies are maintained, 170-200 GW of solar is almost nothing.
With a capacity factor of 0.15-0.2 we're talking 26-40 GW average output. That's still less than 10% of the average output consumed in 2002 by the US(398 GW) and electrical output needs to expand significantly to eventually take over the role filled by petroleum for automotive use, natural gas for heating and NG/coal for industrial processes like iron smelting or cement production.
Hand out permits for nuclear power plants if you're ACTUALLY serious about phasing out fossil fuels.
http://cleantech....-the-sun (photo)
http://cleantech....e-desert (article)
It's a Stirling engine / solar reflector plant that hopes to generate 1.2MW in the California desert. Raised about $100M in financing for it.
Soylent, where did you get the US power consumption number, everything I've seen implies about an order of magnitude higher, 3.3 TW, but usually factors in transportation. Not argueing, just curious, either way your point still stands.
deatopmg, they mean financial growth.
Compare the number of solar panels needed to be built to the number of air to ground missles made by the US military. If they start making solar panels and building the world instead of making bombs to blow it up, all our worries would be over.