Page 188 - CW E-Magazine (12-11-2024)

Special Report

Wind and solar power – welcome, but limited, option

to tackle climate change

lobal efforts to boost produc- solar power plants. A
tion of as renewable energy few years ago, Japan N.S. VENKATARAMAN
G(RE) such as wind and solar stood fourth in terms Director
power are hailed as among the most of solar power capa- Nandini Consultancy Centre
appropriate to solve the global climate city; now, with a cumu- Chennai
crisis and to limit the global tempera- lative capacity of Email: nsvenkatchennai@gmail.com
ture increase to 1.5°C. Such seem justi- 84.9-GW, it is in third
fi ed, considering solar and wind power spot. fuels. In such circumstances, it is clear
are from inexhaustible resource and that solar and wind power cannot sub-
eco-friendly, but their impacts will be India, which added more solar power stantially replace fossil fuels as energy
only moderate. capacity in the fi rst fi ve months of year source in the foreseeable future. It is
2024 than the entire year 2023, along estimated that across 11 countries that
In recent years, there has been with China, the US, Germany and account for over 70% of the present
spectacular progress in RE generation Brazil is on track to account for 75% wind and solar power generation, pro-
worldwide. This largely consists of of the world’s solar capacity addition in duction has to increase fi ve-fold by
biomass-based power and hydropower 2024. 2030 to stem the global temperature
and to a much lesser extent wind, solar increase to some extent.
and others. In 2023, global RE capacity Wind power
reached an all-time high of 3,865-GW, an In 2023, global wind power capa- The question is whether such
increase of 473-GW from 2022. This is city reached 1,021-GW – a 13% year- expectations are appropriate.
the largest yearly growth on record. on-year (y-o-y) increase. Globally, on-
shore wind capacity of 106-GW was Is euphoria over solar and wind power
India’s installed RE capacity in- installed in 2023 – a 54% y-o-y increase – exaggerated?
creased from 75.52-GW in March 2014 and for the fi rst time surpassed 100-GW While solar and wind power are ele-
to more than 207.7-GW now. This is a in a single year. In addition, 10.8-GW of gant ways of reducing the dependence
phenomenal 175% increase in 10 years. offshore wind capacity was installed in on fossil fuels, they cannot take the
During this period, the total RE gene- 2023, a 24% y-o-y increase. fi ght against the global climate crisis
ration in India increased by 86%, from beyond a certain level due to several
193.50-BU (billion units) to 360-BU. The world’s top fi ve countries for limiting factors. It is high time policy
wind power installations – China, planners appreciate these limitations
Solar power USA, Brazil, Germany, and Sweden – and think beyond them to reduce the
The world’s cumulative solar power together make up around 71% of global global dependence on fossil fuels.
capacity has been growing continu- installations collectively. As of March
ously since 2000, and in 2023, reached 31, 2024, India’s installed wind power While the potential wind and solar
1,624-GW. In 2023, roughly 447-GW capacity was around 45-GW. energy generation potential is very
of new solar power capacity was large, the level of generation is bound to
installed. Global energy sources remain much less than the potential for
Even today, 78.4% of global energy all time to come.
With a whopping 430-GW solar is derived from fossil fuels like crude
capacity (as of April 2023), China is oil, coal, natural gas, whereas hydro- Issues with solar power
the largest producer of solar energy power constitutes 3.8% and nuclear One major problem in realising the
in the world. At 141.8-GW, the US around 2.3%. The share of wind power full potential of solar power are the
stands second – from a measly capa- is less than 0.5 % and that of solar less issues in connecting solar power to
city of 0.34-GW in 2008, the country than 0.4%. Obviously, wind and solar electrical grids, given the unsteady supply
has come a long way. Presently, 3% of power have very long way to go to due to climatic and seasonal variations.
the US’s electricity is sourced through catch up with the present share of fossil To accelerate the growth of wind and

188 Chemical Weekly November 5, 2024

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