Solar panels placed on just half of the roof space available around the world could provide pretty much all the electricity required globally each year, according to new research.
The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, used a computer program that considered data from more than 300 million buildings and 130 million square kilometres of land.
The program estimated that this land mass included 0.2 million square kilometres of rooftop surface, which is roughly the same surface area as the UK.
It also estimated how much solar power could be produced by placing modern solar panels on these rooftops, taking locational factors such as the amount of annual sunlight available into account.
Roofs in Canada and Northern Europe, for example, can experience seasonal variations of up to 40% in the amount of sunshine available.
This means that more energy storage solutions would be required in such areas, which can increase costs significantly.
Roofs located close to the equator, on the other hand, enjoyed much more consistent sunshine and experienced seasonal variations of as little as 1%.
Some regions could produce cheaper solar energy
The researchers found that Asian countries such as India and China are looking like the cheapest locations for solar generation due to cheaper panel manufacturing costs and plentiful sunshine.
A kilowatt hour (kWh) could be generated for as little as 0.05p, while the cost in Europe is estimated at 0.096p per kWh.
The study found that panels located on just half of the overall roof space could potentially provide almost all of the world’s energy requirements.
There were some caveats, however, with the authors pointing out that a single source of energy could not be relied on to meet the entire energy demands of the planet.
Metal processing and heavy manufacturing require very large currents, for example, and solar power is not currently suitable for meeting these needs.
Changeable weather and the day and night cycle also mean that solar power generation can vary widely depending on location and time.
Again, this would mean storing energy until it is needed, and current battery and other storage technology remains extremely expensive.
Despite the limitations, the researchers still consider solar power to have a huge potential in decarbonising global electricity supplies and alleviating energy poverty.
Today’s news was brought to you by TD SYNNEX – the UK’s number one solutions distributor.
