Integration of PV into the economy
Integration of PV into the economy will become the main task in the years to come. Sustainability in the production chain is becoming more important all the time. The advantage of solar energy used to be that it was renewable: without use of fossil fuels. But now, PV should develop into a fully sustainable energy
Ambitions for solar energy
In the past few decades, solar energy (PV) has grown a lot; the number of applications has much increased and production has become much more large-scale. Costs have taken a dive, and dramatically so. The ambitions for solar energy are sky-high. Says Wim Sinke: ‘In the 40 years that I work in the solar field,
Solar and wind energy: increasing recognition
This month, before publication of their NZE2050 scenario, the International Energy Agency considerably upped its forecast for solar and wind energy. Even after the major upward revision already done in its World Energy Outlook 2020. Solar PV is now ‘the cheapest source of electricity in history’. And more pleasant surprises may be underway. A recent
Towards net zero carbon emissions
In an unprecedented move, the International Energy Agency (IEA) published its NZE2050 scenario this month: towards net zero carbon emissions in 2050. Required for a climate strategy that limits the rise of global temperatures to 1.5oC. NZE2050 marks a major IEA policy reorientation. The agency finally recognizes that solar and wind energy could become the
Cheap energy storage speeds up
Costs of producing renewable energy keep coming down; and technologies for cheap energy storage keep evolving. Therefore, the eternal problems with solar and wind energy appear to be more and more outdated (‘what to do if the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow’). In the past, we already devoted our attention to this
Renewables versus nuclear – a choice already made
The most important low-carbon energy sources, renewables and nuclear, compete for investment funds. But if we are not mistaken, the dice have already been thrown in this contest of renewables versus nuclear. Renewables have won. Although it might still take a decade or more for parties involved to agree on that. In two articles, we
Energy policy: don’t just choose low-carbon – create a new energy system
A recent article in Nature Energy confirms what we might have surmised already: renewable sources are much better at creating a low-carbon energy future than nuclear power. They do need quite another electricity infrastructure. But grid companies quickly learn how to change their energy policy, and create a new system that fits well these new
Fast and slow revolutions
In Europe, most people seem to have lost their belief in improvement. A concept of dreamers. But improvement takes place all the time; and the odd thing about this is that many improvements are swift and fundamental in nature, but are never highlighted as such. A story of fast and slow revolutions. Fast and slow
on: 12 October 2020