Large photovoltaic system has become an important

Large photovoltaic system has become an important

With the increasing carbon emissions becoming the focus of attention, the achievements of developing countries in the process of future transition to renewable energy cannot be ignored.

The COP27 Climate Change Summit held in Sharm el Sheikh in November this year failed to make progress in multilateral decarbonization. Several of the world's fastest growing economies claimed that they should be regarded as developing countries because of their low contribution to historical carbon emissions. India and China are leading the world in the development of photovoltaic and other renewable energy.

The transformation from fossil fuel power generation to renewable energy power generation is not a simple transformation from one power generation mode to another. Coal, natural gas, oil and nuclear power facilities are usually centralized large-scale power generation facilities, which transmit electricity through transmission and distribution networks. Photovoltaic power generation and wind power generation are small-scale power generation facilities, which are generally more widely distributed.

As we all know, in order to adapt to the growth of renewable energy power generation, it is necessary to make major changes to the transmission grid. Developed countries (especially Europe and Australia) seem to turn a blind eye to or resist the changes needed. In recent years, due to the lack of connectivity at appropriate locations, the deployment of utility scale solar systems in these countries and regions has been inhibited.

In contrast, India and China have invested heavily in transmission infrastructure to support the deployment of utility scale photovoltaic systems and wind power generation facilities. Ten years ago, when Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, was the Chief Minister of Gujarat at that time, the first photovoltaic power plant built in Chalanka was unveiled. Gujarat has built a higher capacity grid to which all renewable energy power generation facilities can be connected. This pioneering method has been replicated by dozens of similar photovoltaic parks across India.

This approach has now been developed to include remote power transmission infrastructure. For example, five photovoltaic parks and clusters have been built around the Thar Desert in Rajasthan, India, which has a photovoltaic power plant with an installed capacity of 20GW and transmits power through the transmission system between the states. The cumulative installed capacity of photovoltaic system in Rajasthan has exceeded that of California this year.

Similarly, China has also built a large number of transmission facilities to transmit power from large photovoltaic power generation facilities in the west and north to densely populated cities along the east coast.

In general, the market share of photovoltaic industry in developed countries is gradually decreasing. Although the United States is the most developed country in the global photovoltaic market, the development of the photovoltaic market in each state of the country is uneven, depending on the acceptance of photovoltaic power generation by the state governments. The Pacific Southwest region, which once dominated the U.S. photovoltaic power generation market, is losing its edge, while Texas and Florida, which were skeptical of photovoltaic power generation, are catching up. North Carolina ranks fourth in the United States in terms of installing utility scale photovoltaic power plants, ahead of Nevada and Arizona, which have more sunshine. Since the end of Ontario's photovoltaic program in the past decade, there has been little progress in the Canadian photovoltaic market.

Europe has been the major global photovoltaic power generation market until 2013, but it has been declining for ten years. Some major EU countries are facing the problem of insufficient grid capacity. Only Spain is significantly increasing the installed capacity of photovoltaic systems. Germany and France have only made cautious progress in the photovoltaic market. The UK has not adopted a coherent renewable energy strategy except for the construction of offshore wind power facilities, and Italy's photovoltaic market is still very slow.

Australia also has network connectivity problems, although its international ranking is steadily rising. South America is catching up and is currently developing a large number of renewable energy projects. However, this process often takes a long time, so policymakers and developers in South America may learn from the methods adopted by China and India.

If we want to achieve the goal of controlling the global average temperature rise within 1.5 ℃, the utility scale photovoltaic system must become a major contributor to reducing emissions.

Chile is among the best in carbon emission reduction, thanks to its ambitious renewable energy plan and high levels of solar radiation. For similar reasons, Spain, India, Vietnam and Australia also rank high.

In general, with the accelerated deployment of utility scale photovoltaic systems year by year, it can be expected to make greater and greater contributions to climate change mitigation.