Solar Electricity: Looking Ahead to 2050
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By 2050, solar power is expected to become the world’s largest source of electricity with solar contributing 16 percent of the electricity demand on the planet. While final numbers for 2014 are yet to be calculated, in 2013, worldwide deployment of solar power (PV) amounted to 38,400 MW— 8,400 MW more than 2012. Cumulated PV capacity increased by 38 percent to 139 GW. This currently represents just under 1% of the electricity demand on the planet.
In 2013, solar power grew fastest in China (+11.8 GW), followed by Japan (+6.9 GW) and the United States (+4.75 GW), while Germany remains the world’s largest overall producer of solar power with a total capacity of 35.5 GW, contributing almost 6% to its national electricity demands. Italy meets 7.8% of its electricity demands with solar power.
“Efficient rooftop or utility scale solar deployment demands high resolution, highly accurate historical and predictive solar irradiance data, “said Marlene Moore, VP Marketing of Green Power Labs Inc. “Our clients in North America, Australia, China and Europe rely on our data to support their investment in solar technologies and our specific expertise in probability analysis when building their business case for investment “she added. Moore concluded “we have the big data needed to support deployment of to allow it to be the world’s largest energy source by 2050. We look forward to that future.”
Source: International Energy Agency 2014 Technology Roadmap Solar Photovoltaic Energy
