SOLAR GENERATION - Greenpeace

FOREWORD
This report demonstrates that there are no technical, economic or resource barriers to supplying
1.1% of the world’s electricity needs from solar power alone by 2020; and this against the
challenging backdrop of a projected near doubling of electricity demand by that date. Solar
energy is a success story. It already supplies electricity to several hundred thousand people,
provides employment for over 10,000 people and generates business worth more than
¤ 3 billion annually
In the future, the pace of change and progress could be even more rapid as the solar industry
unlocks its hidden promise.
By the end of 2003 more than 2,400 Megawatts (MW) of solar photovoltaic power had been
installed world wide, generating enough electricity to power more than 700,000 households
with an average European consumption. As outlined in the opening chapters, the success of the
industry to date has been largely created by the efforts of just three countries - Japan, Germany
and the USA. It is obvious that if other countries matched these efforts, the impact would be far
greater. This underlines the fact that today’s technology is merely the tip of the iceberg, and a
huge potential remains untapped. Solar power is capable of continuing its successful history
over the next two decades if a positive political and regulatory framework is implemented, one
that removes the obstacles and market distortions that currently constrain the industry’s real
potential.
The benefits of solar power are compelling: environmental protection, economic growth, job
creation, secure and distributed generation, diversity of fuel supply and rapid deployment, as
well as the global potential for technology transfer and innovation. The underlying advantage
of solar energy is that the fuel is free, abundant and inexhaustible. The total amount of energy
from the sun that reaches the earth’s surface every year is enough to provide for annual global
energy consumption 10,000 times over. Yet these benefits remain largely untapped; most
energy decisions taken today overlook solar power as a modular technology which can be
rapidly deployed to generate electricity close to the point of consumption. Phasing in solar
photovoltaics therefore requires a shift from centralised to decentralised power production,
allowing far greater control to individual consumers.
There is now a solid international consensus on the threat of dangerous climate change and
that business-as-usual in the energy sector is not an option any more; the world must move
into a clean energy economy. The rapidly increasing demand for fossil fuels has already in 2004
propelled the price of crude oil above US$ 50 per barrel for the first time, and has demonstrated
that production of “cheap” fossil fuels can no longer grow as fast as demand. Economies that
have not prepared themselves for diversification of their energy mix will particularly be
affected by these developments in world oil markets. Solar power is a prime choice in
developing an affordable, feasible, global power source that is able to substitute for fossil fuels
in all climate zones around the world.
The European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) and Greenpeace have produced this new
edition of Solar Generation in order to update our understanding of the contribution that solar
power can make to the world’s energy supply. The report is a practical blueprint to show that
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