scholarly journals Solar Energy in the United States: Development, Challenges and Future Prospects

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (23) ◽  
pp. 8142
Author(s):  
Sanzana Tabassum ◽  
Tanvin Rahman ◽  
Ashraf Ul Islam ◽  
Sumayya Rahman ◽  
Debopriya Roy Dipta ◽  
...  

The ambitious target of net-zero emission by 2050 has been aggressively driving the renewable energy sector in many countries. Leading the race of renewable energy sources is solar energy, the fastest growing energy source at present. The solar industry has witnessed more growth in the last decade than it has in the past 40 years, owing to its technological advancements, plummeting costs, and lucrative incentives. The United States is one of the largest producers of solar power in the world and has been a pioneer in solar adoption, with major projects across different technologies, mainly photovoltaic, concentrated solar power, and solar heating and cooling, but is expanding towards floating PV, solar combined with storage, and hybrid power plants. Although the United States has tremendous potential for exploiting solar resources, there is a scarcity of research that details the U.S. solar energy scenario. This paper provides a comprehensive review of solar energy in the U.S., highlighting the drivers of the solar industry in terms of technology, financial incentives, and strategies to overcome challenges. It also discusses the prospects of the future solar market based on extensive background research and the latest statistics. In addition, the paper categorizes the U.S. states into five tiers based on their solar prospects calculated using analytical hierarchy process and regression analysis. The price of solar technologies in the U.S. is also predicted up to 2031 using Wright’s law, which projected a 77% reduction in the next decade.

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 3131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adarsh Vaderobli ◽  
Dev Parikh ◽  
Urmila Diwekar

Renewable energy use can mitigate the effects of climate change. Solar energy is amongst the cleanest and most readily available renewable energy sources. However, issues of cost and uncertainty associated with solar energy need to be addressed to make it a major source of energy. These uncertainties are different for different locations. In this work, we considered four different locations in the United States of America (Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, Southwest). The weather and cost uncertainties of these locations are included in the formulation, making the problem an optimization-under-uncertainty problem. We used the novel Better Optimization of Nonlinear Uncertain Systems (BONUS) algorithm to solve these problems. The performance and economic models provided by the System Advisory Model (SAM) system from NREL were used for this optimization. Since this is a black-box model, this adds difficulty for optimization and optimization under uncertainty. The objective function and constraints in stochastic optimization (stochastic programming) problems are probabilistic functionals. The generalized treatment of such problems is to use a two-loop computationally intensive procedure, with an inner loop representing probabilistic or stochastic models or scenarios instead of the deterministic model, inside the optimization loop. BONUS circumvents the inner sampling loop, thereby reducing the computational intensity significantly. BONUS can be used for black-box models. The results show that, using the BONUS algorithm, we get 41%–47% of savings on the expected value of the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) for Parabolic Trough Solar Power Plants. The expected LCOE in New York is 57.42%, in Jacksonville is 38.52%, and in San Diego is 17.57% more than in Las Vegas. This difference is due to the differences in weather and weather uncertainties at these locations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ligan Budi Pratomo ◽  
Nazaruddin Sinaga

Energy use always increases, especially fossil energy. Through the National Energy Policy, the government continues to strive to increase the role of new and renewable energy sources so as to reduce dependence on fossil energy. Solar power generation is a type of renewable energy generator that capable to convert solar energy to electric energy. The main components of solar power generatios are batteries, solar panels, charger controllers, and inverters.  Solar power generations technology itself is always being developed, such as automatic monitoring and sun tracking systems designed to improve system performance. One of the applications of solar power generations is in the household sector. In this sector consumes 49% of the national electricity energy in 2018. This type of generator is categorized as a roof solar power generations. Based on existing data, there were 1400  roof solar power generations users in September 2019. The development of solar energy utilization for the household sector is very appropriate because it can help achieve renewable energy about 23% in 2025 and 31% in 2050 in the national energy mix.


Author(s):  
William H. Daughdrill

This paper will describe some of the key environmental and regulatory issues affecting development of offshore renewable energy projects in the United States. Offshore wind, wave, tidal current, and ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) projects all have unique environmental and social issues that must be addressed to the satisfaction of federal, state, and local authorities. This paper examines the existing federal regulatory schemes applicable to offshore renewable energy development in the United States including a discussion of an on-going jurisdictional debate between agencies at the U.S. federal government level. The various permitting processes for offshore renewable energy projects all involve an examination of the potential environmental and social/human effects of each proposed project. Typically, the agency with primary permitting authority must prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) or equivalent document that includes a transparent process that encourages the participation of the interested public and other affected stakeholders. While acknowledging the importance of social/human impact issues, this paper will focus primarily on the potential physical and biological effects from offshore renewable energy projects including a discussion of the uncertainty that surrounds predicting the impact of new or innovative technologies. The U.S. Department of Interior, Minerals Management Service (MMS) recently published a programmatic environmental impact statement (EIS) that includes 52 “best management practices” for reducing environmental and social impacts from offshore alternative energy projects. Finally the paper will examine the important role of environmental monitoring and adaptive management in informing regulators and developers of potential adverse impacts and adapting project design and operations to avoid or minimize these effects.


Author(s):  
K. T. N. Ihsan ◽  
A. D. Sakti ◽  
K. Wikantika

Abstract. Increasing the production of clean and environmentally friendly energy has become one of the world agendas as a strategic effort in dealing with long-term climate change. Seeing the potential of the energy produced, the ease in the installation process, with the small risk of harm generated, solar energy has received significant attention from many countries in the world. The potential for solar energy in Indonesia alone reaches 207 GWp, but only 145.81 MWp has been utilized. Currently, the Indonesian government has set a target to build a Solar Power Plant capacity in 2025 of 6.5 GWh. Urban areas are areas with higher energy demand than rural areas, but the availability of vacant land in urban areas is very minimal for installing solar power plants. Therefore, rooftop solar PV(Photovoltaic) can be a solution in dense areas such as cities. Good planning by looking at the potential resources and energy needs in spatial is needed to manage and utilize energy optimally and sustainably in urban areas. This study aims to develop a geospatial assessment for plan smart energy city that uses rooftop solar PV's potential energy in every building that is effective and efficient. The novelty in the analysis of the distribution of the potential for rooftop solar PV development in urban areas integrates meteorological and spatial aspects and socio-economic aspects. Integration of multi-dynamic spatial data uses in determining the rooftop solar PV construction location, such as meteorological data for solar energy potential, increasing energy needs of each building, and socio-economy data. The data source used comes from statistical data and remote sensing data. The analysis will be carried out temporally (2008, 2013, and 2018) to see the pattern of changes in aspects used in a certain period so that the development plan can be carried out more optimally. This research's output is the formation of a priority analysis of solar PV rooftop construction in urban areas, especially the city of Bandung. The result of energy can also produce by the construction of rooftop solar PV in a potential area. This research is expected to be utilized by policymakers to develop renewable energy in the city of Bandung and increase community participation in switching to renewable energy.


Author(s):  
A. Tunc ◽  
G. Tuncay ◽  
Z. Alacakanat ◽  
F. S. Sevimli

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> Today, countries are shifting their energy policies towards to renewable energy sources. The main reasons for this can be summarized as the reduction of fossil fuel resources, resulting in cost increase and their harmful effect on the ecological balance. Since renewable energy sources are both economical and eco-friendly, for countries which have high solar energy potential such as Turkey, it is reasonable to direct their energy policies to solar energy which is a renewable energy source.</p><p>In this study, the development of renewable energy legislation in Turkey, from past to present has been examined and implementation steps for the licenced and unlicensed generation of electricity from solar energy have been introduced. Ten impact factors have been identified as the first step for the implementation of the solar power plant site selection in Istanbul, which was determined as the pilot region. Impact factors weighted using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. Concurrently, the weights of these determined impact factors were compared with the weights obtained by evaluating the results of the “Evaluation of Solar Energy Power Plant Site Selection Factors” survey conducted during the study. After obtaining the weights, the relevant data were collected and the necessary analyses were performed with the help of the GIS software and the most suitable places were provided for the solar power plant for Istanbul.</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 76-85
Author(s):  
Nur Hafeizza Ramly

Emergency Portable Solar Power Supply is a product which uses renewable energy sources as the main sources of electricity which is sunlight. According to World Energy Outlook (WEO) 2018, the percentage of renewable energy used as a source to generate electricity grew by 17% higher than the 10-year average and solar energy contributed more than a third despite accounting for just 21% of the total. The main objective of this product is to create clean energy emergency portable solar power supply by using non-conventional energy source and green technology which can be used during any contingency happens and also for the usage for rural area with non-electric power source. This project was started by calculation of the system design for determining the characteristic that need to be used for all components that related to this solar system such as battery, charge controller, solar panel and etc. The overall system of this portable solar power supply is 12V system. This design can last for 2 days without charging and the minimum hour for the battery to be charged is around 6 hours. This product can supply maximum up to 100W of DC and AC power supply. In a conclusion, this product is very portable and greener product the usage of solar energy as the main sources to generate electricity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 2760 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caio Cesar Moreira Chagas ◽  
Marcio Giannini Pereira ◽  
Luiz Pinguelli Rosa ◽  
Neilton Fidelis da Silva ◽  
Marcos Aurélio Vasconcelos Freitas ◽  
...  

Increased use of fossil fuels has contributed to global warming due to greenhouse gas emissions, which has led countries to implement policies that favor the gradual replacement of their use with renewable energy sources. Wind expansion in Brazil is a success story, but its adherence to distributed generation is still a big challenge. In this context, the authors of this paper argue that the development of robust and viable distributed power grids will also depend in the future on improving small wind generation as an important alternative to the diversity of decentralized power grids. In this study, the authors present an overview of the small-sized Aeolic (or wind) energy market in Brazil, with the objective to support the debate regarding its expansion. Promoting the small wind market in Brazil is still a big challenge, but lessons can be learned from the United States. In this context, the article uses the United States learning curve, analyzing barriers that were found, as well as public policies implemented to overcome them. The lessons learned in the American market may guide public policies aimed at fostering this technology in Brazil. If technological improvements, certification and introduction of financial incentives were implemented in Brazil, the small wind industry chain could grow substantially, building a trajectory to promote the low carbon economy.


2020 ◽  
pp. 48-55
Author(s):  
Olena I. Matsenko ◽  
Vladyslav S. Tereshchenko ◽  
Vladyslav S. Piven ◽  
Andrii A. Panchenko ◽  
Evhenyi A. Perekhod

The use of alternative energy sources, in particular solar energy, has gained rapid growth in recent years. This trend is prompting manufacturers of equipment for solar power plants to increase production volumes. At the same time, the question arises of the disposal of used modules, because each material has its service life. According to technical specifications, the average life of solar modules and batteries is 25-30 years. Decommissioning may occur earlier than this time due to the following reasons – moral and physical deterioration, mechanical damage, replacement of obsolete equipment with new, modernization of solar power plants. Already in 2030, it will be necessary to replace the solar modules installed in 2000. Therefore, there are acute questions not only regarding the development of technologies for processing waste equipment from solar power plants but also organizational and economic methods. This article discusses the main problems that arise during the utilization and recycling of solar modules, analyzes the experience of countries in resolving these issues. After all, the use of renewable energy sources should minimize the negative impact on the environment from energy production at all stages – from the production of equipment for a power plant to the disposal and recycling of this equipment. Keywords: solar panel, recycling, economic method, solar power, natural resource, economic problem, environment, renewable energy.


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