Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) - Solar panels are great sources of energy. We have them on our roof and they have saved us a lot of money, especially in spring-summer-fall. Some observers complain about their bulk compared to the energy they put out, though. I've had engineers argue to me that there just isn't space for all the solar panels that would be needed to green the American energy grid.
Since I study the Middle East, I've had to learn about energy markets and security. One time about a decade ago I was doing some energy consulting with the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). Japan had had to deal with the closure of many of its nuclear plants after the Fukishima disaster by importing Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from the Middle East. They were nervous about the security of the region, though. I told my Japanese colleagues that they would be better off going in for wind and solar. One replied that Japan had very little land available for solar farms. I don't know how sincere this reply was. I think those bureaucrats were just wedded to nuclear power. In fact, Japan now has over 87 gigawatts of solar power. It has been adding about 6 gigs of solar a year recently.
One solution to this problem that is increasingly being tried out is agrovoltaics, putting solar panels on farms but in such a way that they help crops grow. So far in the US, most agrovoltaic set-ups are for sheep raising, since grass can grow under the panels. In fact, the panels help the grass thrive in hot, sunny environments by providing shade and allowing retention of moisture, which is also good for tomatoes, turnips, carrots, squash, beets, lettuce, kale, chard, and peppers.
Solar panels are rapidly becoming more efficient, which will allow this form of energy to produce electricity while taking up less space.
In the meantime, another possible solution is to put the solar panels on floating platforms. Japan has put them on lakes, for instance.
The panel arrays can also be placed offshore. Fish and other marine life like structures such as the steel truss platform piling used for China's offshore solar farms. It gives them places to hide from predators, e.g.
China is the most advanced solar society in the world with over 600 gigawatts of installed solar capacity, which save the country billions of dollars a year over paying for imported fossil gas.. The US is in comparison backward, only having about 130 GW of solar.
It is therefore no surprise that Beijing has, as Aman Tripathi reports, just connected to high capacity transmission wires the world's large offshore solar plant off the coast of Shandong Province, a 1-gigawatt facility. The facility also does fish farming.
The nearly 3,000 photovoltaic platforms are attached to fixed pilings in the sea floor and are spread over an area of some 4 square miles. It will generate enough power to provide electricity to 2.6 million people.
And this installation is only the beginning. China is aiming to have 60 gigawatts of offshore solar in only 3 years from now -- an incredible build-out if it happens.
China also already has 61 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity.
Wind, water, solar and battery are clearly the way forward on meeting the world's power needs while avoiding massive carbon pollution. Solar in my view has the greatest potential over the medium to long term. The issue of where to put the PV panels is not in my view a very serious problem. If there is a will to use them to cut carbon dioxide production, as there is in China, then places will be fond to put them -- as China is demonstrating.
And by the way, if the US government under the incoming Trump administration puts roadblocks in the way of solar power, it will just accelerate American decline and help propel China further toward great power status. The future is solar panels and electric vehicles, and China is already eating our lunch on those two. If that goes on for a while, we'll be poor, breathing dirty air, and paying trillions for climate catastrophes, while China replaces us as the world's leading superpower.