Over the period of one decade, the capitalized cost of generating
solar energy in 2015 has decreased to as low as one sixth the cost in
2005, and I believe it will not take long for solar energy generation to be economically cheaper than thermal power generation worldwide.
Image: Bloomberg
Every year at the World Economic Forum, energy consumption and climate change are always hot topics.
Looking back at the history of human civilisation, for a long time, firewood was the primary source of energy; however, back then, energy
ultilization was low and as such air pollution emissions were also low.
The invention of the steam engine in the 18th century marked the
beginning of the industrial revolution, which led to the mining and
consumption of coal on a large scale. In 1920, coal accounted for 62% of primary energy consumption, indicating that the world had entered the
Coal Age.
In 1965, petroleum replaced coal as the most consumed energy, which led the world into the “petroleum age”. In 1979, petroleum contributed
54% of the world energy consumption, marking the second energy
revolution from coal to petroleum. Up until now, fossil fuels have
continued to dominate as our energy resource.
With each new age, the use and efficiency of energy have increased
significantly - as have, unfortunately, levels of severe environmental
pollution. Our future energy system must therefore be clean and
low-carbon to ensure the sustainable development of human civilisation.
We are now embarking on a new era of energy revolution. The energy
system of the future should have the following three features:
Low carbon energy production. Fossil fuels have to be burned to release energy, which caused emissions and environmental pollution.
The existing intensive industrial usage of fossil fuels has
significantly harmed the environment. Meanwhile, for most economically
under-developed countries around the world, the cost of clean energy is
too high to be affordable.
Solar power, however, is one of the best solutions. Not only is
solar energy production clean, it may also soon become a much more
affordable source of energy, as technology development and innovation
continues to reduce the cost of solar power generation.
As mentioned, the cost of solar energy generation in 2015 has
decreased to as low as one sixth the cost in 2005. In the near future,
solar power will be less expensive than coal power. Renewable clean
energy replacing fossil fuels is the trend of the ongoing energy
revolution.
Panda power: An aerial view of a panda-shaped solar plant in Datong, Shanxi province
Image: Panda Green Energy Group/Handout via REUTERS
Energy independence and connectivity. As a typical outcome
of the industrial age, the existing electrical energy system has been
made of large-scale hydropower plants and coal power plants in
resource-rich regions, supplying their output to consumption centres
through a grid system. Such development not only requires enormous
investment, it also causes serious environmental problems.
The energy system of the future, dominated by renewables, will be
built on the basis of regions. Each region will have its own energy
supply system. Thus, forming a new system with a regional power network
which would also be interconnected with networks in other regions, so as to balance the system and ensure a consistent energy supply. An energy
system like this would be far more optimised than our existing one.
Energy sharing. When solar energy is adopted by hundreds of
factories and thousands of houses, the power supply system will be
totally changed. Every school, every factory and every family will
become a micro clean energy power station. We will be both energy
consumers as well as energy producers. The direction of new energy
revolution is to build an energy-sharing system, based on a large
database and a smart-energy connection platform. Such a vision has
already been realized in Germany, where many households are equipped
with solar panels on their rooftops. If one family produces more
electricity more than they use, they share the extra power with other
families via regional grid. Establishing an energy-sharing system can
further decrease the cost of adopting clean energy. It can be a new
model of shared energy and a shared economy.
Promoting the new model of energy consumption in less-developed regions. While developed countries are changing their energy structure from
fossil fuels to renewables, many less-developed regions are still short
of any kind of energy supply models. Those countries could skip the
traditional power system, and directly adopt new clean energy.
At present, 1.4 billion people worldwide have no access to
electricity, of which 500 million are in Asia. In future, we can build a clean energy supply system featured by solar power, with distributed
and micro power networks, to make electricity accessible to everyone on
earth by 2030. This plan can totally meet the requirement of access to
energy under the UN’s Agenda 21. This kind of energy revolution will bring universal value and significance.
Throughout the history of humanity, industrial revolutions have
also been energy revolutions. Every change of a dominant energy source
has been a revolution. Each time, a change had resulted in industrial
and social developments. The next energy revolution is now at
accelerating in pace, propelled by technology development and
innovation. Consequently, the connection to grid of PV (solar) energy at a fair price will become a reality faster than we expect.
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