Photovoltaic solar energy could produce 22.4 GW worldwide in 2030

• The recent approval of the new legislation on self-consumption in Spain, has not prevented the Government from having to resort to the importation of ‘dirty’ energy to cover the current demand.

Photovoltaic solar energy is, since the end of 2018, the first source of electrical energy installed worldwide. According to the Photovoltaic Energy Systems Program of the International Energy Agency (AIE PVPS), they have exceeded 500GW, a figure that multiplies by 31 the total power used by humans in 2016.

Spain has already gotten into the car of self-consumption thanks to the Royal Decree recently signed by the Council of Ministers, which ends the so-called sun tax. This new legislative framework makes photovoltaic energy one of the great hopes for reducing energy dependence and pollution, limiting CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.

In this sense, some studies show relevant data for the future of solar energy in Spain. On the one hand, the company Solar Power Europe predicts that in 2022, 8.2 GW of new capacity can be added, reaching 14.6 GW at the end of that year. This would make Spain, which is already the European country with the most hours of sunshine, one of the most important solar markets in the world.

For its part, Global Data estimates that the global solar power capacity will increase to 22.4 GW in 2030, after a significant addition of capacity by China, Chile and countries in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA ).

Spain continues to import energy.

Despite Spain’s privileged geographical situation and until the new legislation begins to have real effects on the production and consumption of clean energy, the Government has been forced to import more ‘dirty’ energy to prevent the price of the light. Morocco is the provider of this electric power, mainly because of its proximity.

However, the Alawite country has made an important commitment to clean energy. Specifically, playing a fundamental role in the Market of Concentrated solar energy (CSP), establishing a plan that will allow it to obtain 2GW of solar energy by 2020, with which it plans to cover 42% of the country’s electricity needs.

Morocco currently has the largest concentrated solar farm in the world, of some 3,000 hectares, which is equivalent to approximately 3,500 football fields. It is located in Noor Ouarzazate and produces enough electricity to supply more than one million homes.

This farm, with a capacity of 580 megawatts, is capable of saving more than 760,000 tons of carbon emissions into the atmosphere. To do this, it uses a central tower system and a molten salt storage system, capable of reaching a higher temperature than other configurations and maximizing thermodynamic efficiency. In this way, it allows managing solar energy in the absence of direct radiation and thus responding to demand peaks. A cutting-edge technology that substantially modifies the role of renewable energy in the global energy supply.