The price of photovoltaic systems has made it possible for the solar sector to rival the coal production of electricity in China. This is as per the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
What is worth noting with this development is that solar power achieves a sustainable balance against the fact that solar can only generate power intermittently, potentially exacerbating energy management challenges. Nonetheless, the more prominent contributor to the national grid of China is solar power. It is also suggested that by 2050 more than half of the country’s energy needs will be catered for by solar energy.
China spearheaded the solar revolution by commissioning more than one-third of the solar installations globally. The reason behind this is the price drop in solar eqpt, which dropped by more than 63%. In comparison to solar installations worldwide, China surpasses the USA. China also eyes the ambitious goal of reach net-zero emissions by 2060; therefore, hoping that China would stop at its 250 GW active is not very realistic. Instead, China would try and convert more and more of its grid to solar instead of coal.
The dilemma that the PRC faces in achieving this goal is a geographical one. Most of China’s population resides in its southeastern region, on the opposite side of the nation’s best solar resources lie, in the northwestern regions where cloudless sunny days are abundant. As a result, China would have to make massive infrastructural amends to ensure that the lion’s share of its power across vast distances is transmitted without any lag.
Researchers in China have made a model to study the factors that will affect solar transmission, for instance, economics, changing technology, solar resources, and the projected state of China’s power grid from 2020 to 2060. China’s overall potential has also increased from 13 PW in 2020 and is suspected to go up to 150 PW by 2060. China’s added advantage over the rest of the world is that materials for renewable power, including wind turbines, batteries, and solar panels, come from China. It would be interesting to see how China transitions from a coal-reliant country to a solar giant.