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Renewables now bigger than nuclear |
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14 Feb 2013, 9:03 AM
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Worldwide solar power potential now exceeds 100 gigawatts of electrical generating capacity, according to new industry figures released by the European Photovoltaic Industry Association. This is more than the overall rating of the whole UK power plant system (which totals about 85 GW), and represents an estimated saving of around 53 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.
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During the last 12 months, around 30 GW of solar PV was installed in 2012 around the world, 17 GW of this in Europe alone.
Germany held on to its world-leading position, with 7.6 GW added, followed by China (3.5 GW), Italy (3.3 GW), USA (3.2 GW) and Japan (2.5 GW). The UK market, coming rather late into the solar game, grew by about 1.1 gigawatts.
Wind power, which has been established across the globe longer than solar, grew in 2012 by 46 GW to reach 284 GW, with by far the largest capacity growth in China and the USA (both about 13 GW), according to the Global Wind Energy Council.
Germany, India and the UK each added around 2 GW to their installed wind capacity, and wind power across the EU-27 member states grew by 12% to over 100 GW.
Remarkably, the total renewable generating capacity of wind and solar power together now exceeds the world capacity of nuclear power, a much older industry which has been stagnant lately at around 360-370 GW, failing to grow any further during the past ten years.
The actual amount of electricity generated by renewables has yet to surpass nuclear, which operates for more hours per year (typically 7,000 hours, compared with about 2,200 for wind power and 850-1500 hours for solar) – but it can only be a matter of time before renewables will make up the majority part of both UK and world energy production.
Credits:: NFU
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