Page 56 - Energize October 2021

TECHNICAL

big differences in sunshine between winter as they would be in urban centres. For those living in remote areas, panels help top up or
and summer. Rooftops near the equator, even replace supply from potentially unreliable local grids. And for those in cities, panels can
however, usually only vary in generation significantly reduce air pollution caused by burning fossil fuels for energy.
potential by around 1% across the seasons, as It’s vital to point out that global electricity supply cannot rely on a single source of generation
sunshine is much more consistent. to meet the requirements of billions of people. And, thanks to changeable weather and our
This is important because these large planet’s day and night cycle, a mismatch between solar energy demand and supply is unavoidable.
variations in monthly potential can have The equipment required to store solar power for when it’s needed is still extremely expensive.
a significant impact on the reliability of Additionally, solar panels won’t be able to deliver enough power for some industries. Heavy
solar-powered electricity in that region. manufacturing and metal processing, for example, require very large currents and specialised
That means places where sunlight is more electricity delivery, which solar power won’t yet be able to provide.
irregular require energy storage solutions – Despite this, rooftop solar has huge potential to alleviate energy poverty and put clean,
increasing electricity costs. pollution-free power back in the hands of consumers worldwide. If the costs of solar power
continue to decrease, rooftop panels could be one of the best tools yet to decarbonise our
Hotspots electricity supply. n
Our results highlighted three potential
hotspots for rooftop solar energy generation: ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Asia, Europe and North America. Siddharth Joshi - Siddharth Joshi is a PhD student in global energy engineering, University
Of these, Asia looks like the cheapest College Cork. Joshi receives funding from Science Foundation Ireland.
location to install panels, where – in James Glynn - James Glynn is a senior research scholar in energy systems modelling at Columbia
countries like India and China – 1 kWh) University’s Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP), Columbia University, New York. Glynn works
of electricity, or approximately 48 hours for CGEP, which is committed to independent and nonpartisan research that meets the high
of using your laptop, can be produced for standards of academic integrity and quality at Columbia University. CGEP was founded on the
just 0,05p (about R1,10) This is thanks to principle that no outside organisation or individual will influence the work of its scholars in a way
cheap panel manufacturing costs, as well as that determines policy recommendations or outcomes.
sunnier climates. Shivika Mittal - Research Associate in Energy System Modelling, Imperial College London. Mittal
Meanwhile, the costliest countries for receives funding from European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme.
implementing rooftop solar are USA, Japan
and the UK. Europe holds the middle ground, Acknowledgement
with average costs across the continent of This article was first published by The Conversation and is republished here under the Creative
around 0,096p (about R2,11) per kWh. Commons licence.
Rooftop solar panels look like they’d be
equally useful in areas with low population Send your comments to rogerl@nowmedia.co.za

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