Assessing international electrical energy technology potential from rooftop solar photovoltaics

The first detailed international evaluation of the electrical energy technology potential of rooftop solar photovoltaics (PV) expertise has been carried out by researchers at MaREI, the SFI Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine in University College Cork (UCC), in collaboration with worldwide analysis companions. The findings are printed in Nature Communications.

Owing to improved deployment functionality and decreased prices, rooftop solar Photovoltaics (PV) expertise, akin to roof mounted solar panels utilized in house, industrial and industrial buildings, is at present the quickest deployable electricty technology expertise and is projected to produce 25–49% of worldwide electricity wants by 2050. Despite these predictions, a world evaluation of the expertise’s electrical energy technology potential and the related prices stays a problem.

The analysis workforce together with lead creator Siddharth Joshi, along with UCC colleagues Professor Brian Ó Gallachóir, Dr. Paul Holloway and colleagues at Imperial College London, Columbia University, and Ahmedabad University, assessed the electrical energy technology potential of rooftop solar PV globally and the related prices. The authors mapped 130 million km² of worldwide land floor space to establish 0.2 million km² of rooftop space utilizing a novel Machine Learning algorithm. This rooftop space was then analyzed to quantify the worldwide electrical energy technology potential of rooftop solar PV.

The authors discovered {that a} international potential of 27 petawatt-hour per 12 months may be attained at a value of between US$ 40–280 per megawatt-hour with the best electrical energy technology potential in Asia, North America and Europe. They point out that the bottom value for attaining the potential energy is in India (US$66 per megawatt-hour) and China (US$68 per megawatt-hour), whereas the UK and U.S. are among the many most expensive international locations. The authors recommend that the electrical energy technology potential of rooftop solar panels exceeded the worldwide yearly aggregated vitality consumption in 2018. However, its future potential will depend upon the event and price of storage options for the generated vitality.

“For the first time, we can analyze the spatial and temporal characteristics of global rooftop photovoltaics with improved accuracy using a combination of big data, machine learning and GIS. This study can aid in improved representation of rooftop solar photovoltaics in global energy systems,” said UCC researcher Siddharth Joshi.

The authors conclude that their findings may have necessary implications for sustainable growth and local weather change mitigations efforts. Globally, practically 800 million folks had been with out electrical energy in 2018, the vast majority of who’re residing in rural areas.

Co-author Prof. Brian Ó Gallachóir commented “this potential of 27 PWh per annum from rooftop solar is very significant. For comparison, our total electricity use in all homes around the world was 6 PWh in 2019. These results are very timely in the context of the global climate change conference in the UK next month. Rooftop solar PV not only helps to reduce emissions but also to involve homeowners directly in the energy transition.”

Senior creator Dr. James Glynn commented, “the open data generated in this research helps to quantify, locate and prioritize investment in zero-carbon electricity systems. By mapping the solar PV rooftop potential in high resolution globally, development banks and energy agencies in developing countries are better informed as to the technology’s role in enabling sustainable development towards climate action and affordable and clean energy.”

Dr. Shivika Mittal, Research Associate in Energy and Integrated Assessment Model on the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London, mentioned: “The cost of generating electricity from solar rooftop panels has declined significantly in the last decade. Our new data set will help governments or organizations, business owners to identify solar power ‘hot-spots’ where they can mobilize new investment, and this would help in accelerating the adoption of solar power.”