Climate Action 2009-2010

TECHNOLOGY
SOLAR ENERGY 88
© 2001–2006 European Communities and Ecole des Mines de Paris
Figure 1. Solar radiation map of the Mediterranean and North Africa.
support, by just capitalising on the high solar irradiation of
these regions and their relatively expensive and inefficient
conditions for conventional electricity generation.
Distributed generation for both town and country
PV can be used both in centralised power plants but also
as a distributed energy source, generating electricity
close to the point of consumption. Worldwide electricity
is not available to more than 1.6 billion people, of which
80 per cent live in rural areas. In sub-Saharan Africa,
only nine per cent of the rural population have access to
electricity. PV represents a unique opportunity to electrify
rural and remote areas in developing countries, removing
this barrier to social and economic development.
At the other end of the spectrum, more than 50 per
cent of the world’s population is now urban, and cities
make an important contribution to national greenhouse
gas emissions. PV is one of the only renewable energy
technologies that can seamlessly integrate with highly
dense urban environments. At a time where many cities
are developing strategies to reduce their emissions, PV
is poised to become a standard building technology,
ensuring that during the next decade, future buildings
can be transformed into positive power plants.
A responsible investment
PV is a key tool in the fight against climate change, with
the potential to save billions of tonnes of CO 2
. But not
only does it provide clean power from an inexhaustible
indigenous source, it also boosts economic development
by creating jobs, channelling investment into a
sustainable energy model and saving billions in foreign
imports of fossil fuels.
In order to achieve high penetrations of PV by 2020,
temporary market support will be needed in regions
where PV is still in a pre-competitive phase. A macroeconomic
analysis performed by EPIA has shown that
in Europe, market support required for boosting PV to
cover 12 per cent of the electricity demand in 2020 is an
investment – not a cost – yielding a massively positive
return to EU society as a whole. This is, inter alia, a
consequence of the hedging value of PV; investing in PV
in essence locks the price of electricity over the lifetime
of the system (25 years or more) against the increase
of fossil fuel generation technologies driven by growing
and high volatile fuel prices. There are no fuel costs, no
geo-political risk and no supply dependence on imported
fuels from politically unstable regions
In addition, and especially at times of economic
uncertainty and high unemployment rates, any
technology that demands a substantial level of both
skilled and unskilled labour is of considerable economic
importance. PV creates a vast diversity of employment
across its value chain, ranging from highly skilled
scientists and engineers to simple installers. An
important part of the workforce is needed lower down the
value chain in the distribution, planning and installation
of systems, which is in essence revitalising regional
economies, providing local and non-displaceable quality
jobs and expanding tax bases in rural regions.
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