Solar: the facts

On a global scale solar power is still tiny, providing around 2%of the world’s electricity… but the growth over the last years has been significant.

Solar – alongside wind power – is one of the fastest growing sources of renewables. While solar photovoltaics (known as solar PV) are still relying on government subsidies, costs have come down significantly.

Solar PV panels are based on different physics from other electricity generating systems. A PV cell consists of layers of semiconductor material. Light shining on it creates an electric field across the layers, causing electricity to flow as in a battery. More intense light increases the power.

The effect was first observed in solid-state materials in 1875 by British scientist William Grylls Adams and his student Richard Evans Day but it took 80 years to find a practical application.

 “Wind is basically mechanics; solar is electronics. And the progress there is much more rapid, and will continue,” says Gérard Mestrallet, chief executive of Engie, the French energy group.

Solar PV prices have dropped dramatically in recent years, albeit from a very high level. In very sunny places the unsubsidized levelized cost of solar power is competitive with retail power, and in some areas competitive with wholesale power. The biggest challenges ahead are storage and the technology’s large land footprint.

Read the full briefing by downloading the pdf attached.

Download PDF

 

Further Reading

Solar Energy Perspective, IEA 2020