Spain Leads the World in New Solar Energy Development
According to a newly released draft of a report by the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21), Spain now leads the world in added photovoltaic capacity.
Although Germany is still the leading nation in total grid-connected solar photovoltaic capacity, this news now means Spain has surged into second place there. The report comes as an embarrassment for a floundering Japan, who used to lead the world, but now has fallen to third place in total capacity and forth place in added capacity.
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Spain added 1.7 million kilowatts of capacity in 2008, followed by Germany at 1.5 million kilowatts. The United States lagged behind in a distant third place at 300,000 kilowatts, followed by Japan with only 240,000 kilowatts. The news is disappointing for Japan, but it should be equally as distressing for the United States, which continues to show only slow improvements year to year.
The big difference between the top two countries and the U.S. and Japan appears to be public policy. In Germany and Spain, power companies are required to make long term purchases of renewable energy at uniform prices. Although similar requirements exist in the U.S. and Japan, they are so small that they lead to policy failure, which in turn prompts legislators to be apprehensive when it comes to strengthening those policies.
Nevertheless, Spain has become a shining example of how more ambitious policies can lead to real improvements.
Image Credit: Schwarzerkater on Flickr under a Creative Commons License
This is a good example of a country picking alternative power suited to their locale: Spain gets plenty of sun, and has some thinly-populated dry areas better used for sun-farming than plant-farming. Japan doesn’t really have much room for solar installations, except maybe rooftops.
For better or for worse, this is going to be short-lived for Spain — and not because somebody else is racing in to take its place. Spain achieved what it did through a generous subsidy program. For 2009 that subsidy program has been capped at a level so low that the cap was, for all intents and purposes, met on January 1. Virtually no new modules are being shipped to Spain this year, and installations in the US will probably exceed those in Spain in 2009. I suppose the silver lining is that this has contributed — some say significantly — to the rapid decline in PV module prices that has been observed since about the start of the year….
Where is this report ? I don’t see it anywhere on the ren21 site.
Great idea! But solar power alone is not going to solve our problems. Check out The Venus Project and see their ideas of how a city can be self-sustaining through not only solar power but renewable energy renewable resources, green architecture, organic farming, and many more innovative building systems. Help support their solar power system ideas.
Solar, wind, wave, hydro, tidal and geothermal Power sources must be tapped to a maximum to avoid the “Bump” at the end of the cheap oil era, coming sooner than you think, judging by various indicators, including government positions on GM and Chrysler, Air travel, and other high oil consumers. Battery cars are one high tech breakthrough from being preferred to gas cars, High speed, inter-city rail, with decent terminals and cheap plug-in commuters can solve a lot of North American problems, and possibly eliminate or at least reduce air travel, which is very hard on oil. Intercontinental flights may get very expensive, and soon! Cruise ships are gaining popularity, and large V-8 gasoline engines are rapidly becoming part of the past. high speed, super economical Euro-diesels are popular but will lose out to Diesel/electric plug-ins from VW likely. China has a “Volt” clone going on sale in the U.S.A. in 2011 - for half the price of a GM built “vaporware to date Volt”. China has a whole line of eco-cars coming soon to the ’states, to fill in while we build our massive solar, wind tidal, hydro, tidal and geothermal installations and our “Keep the cash at home” high-speed rail system. We cannot afford to make the Chinese error and go nuclear, they are just one human error from Armageddon, in all ten new reactors built in China this year, and knee deep in nuclear waste! When the good folks of Chernobyl return home, maybe we can try it? In the mean time, the clean, perpetual, or renewable, if you prefer resources beckon a wiser America. Life will never be the same here in the U.S.A. - of course, it never was, was it!
Not only Solar power is growing on Spain.
Also Wind power turbines will be installed over the coast of the iberian peninsula, elevating Wind power generated MW