POWER PLANT SUN JUST RISING

A dazzling future for solar power?
Matthew Knight, May 12, 2010 (CNN)

"Solar power is expected to provide almost a quarter of the world's electricity supplies by 2050, according to a new report published by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

"Eleven percent of total supplies are predicted to come from solar panels on homes and offices while a further 11 percent will be provided by central solar power stations feeding clean electricity to populous areas…Solar power currently accounts for 0.5 percent of total electricity supplies, but this will need to rise if cuts in carbon emissions are to be achieved…"

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[Nobuo Tanaka, Executive Director, IEA:] "The combination of solar photovoltaics and concentrating solar power offers considerable prospects for enhancing energy security while reducing energy-related CO2 emissions by almost six billion tonnes per year by 2050."

"The future success of solar power stations (known as Concentrating Solar Power or CSP) will depend on the development of...[transmission, but it] could become competitive with coal and nuclear power plants by 2030…North America [is expected] to be the largest producer of CSP electricity, followed by India and North Africa -- which will likely export half of its output to Europe."

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"With [long-term, predictable solar-specific incentive] policies in place, the IEA says that solar panels on residential and commercial buildings could compete with traditional electricity supplies by 2020 in many regions. By 2030 the IEA anticipate solar panels will provide five percent of global electricity…"

[Professor Philip Eames, director, Center for Renewable Energy Systems Technology, Loughborough (UK) University:] "Realistically, I think solar power has quite a bright future. I've seen predictions before and they are becoming more and more bullish as the technology develops…If you look at the resources that are available and the way technology has developed in the last few years, there will be quite a large increase in solar panels and CSP if it keeps developing…Solar power's time is starting to come…"