Floating Solar Panels Reduce Evaporation in Saudi Arabia Oasis
Floating solar panels are eulogised as a remarkable innovation in the realm of renewable energy and water conservation and as a replacement for fossil fuel. By harnessing solar power on water reservoirs , lakes, and protected harbour areas these installations generate clean energy as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In the perspective of Water Security floating solar panels conserve water resources by reducing evaporation from water surfaces which is of immense significance in Saudia Arabia and the United Arab Emirates which are confronted with water scarcity .The shade and shelter provided by floating solar panels minimises the direct exposure of water to sunlight resulting in significantly low evaporation rates. This can be particularly significant in arid regions like the Sahara desert ensuring more efficient water usage for agriculture, drinking and other essential requirements.
Credit;Gulf News
Comparative Analysis of Wind , Solar & Nuclear Energy
According to a report published in 2022 in the perspective of Minnesota’s 100 % carbon-free mandate it was revealed that system costs for wind and solar challenge the assumption that they are the cheapest forms of electricity.
It turns out, as an outcome of the study, that wind and solar are are the most expensive energy sources requiring backup power coupled with massive overbuilding and curtailment effectively reducing grid efficiency .The study showed that wind and solar sources produced electricity at a cost of $272 and $471 per MWh respectively, compared to $69 per MWh for APR-1400 nuclear facilities and $214 per MWh for small modular reactors ,taken as as a ramping resource. Of course construction of a nuclear power plant is capital intensive but then it has a long life as well. Efforts to decarbonise the electricity grid requires constructing nuclear power plants replete with superior value to electricity consumers and at the same time ensuring a reliable service at a lower cost than a grid powered by wind, solar and the much touted battery storage. To some extent wind, solar and hydel based electricity generation is slightly cheaper but not to the extent as is propagated. This view can be authenticated by visiting the electricity regulators website , the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), in order to review or examine the tariff determination specific to technology . Wind ,solar and hydel are not realisable and available during specific time periods. Solar is available during day time, hydro is available only during summer whereas wind based energy generation is entirely dependent on wind currents and utilisation factors are less than 50%. Due to these factors there is no option except to maintain dependable and round the clock nuclear of fossil fuel based available generation. This being RFO, HSD, Gas or coal technologies. In Pakistan this state of affairs has compelled to maintain around 27000 MW dependable capacity. The much touted or claimed 41,557 MW Installed or Gross or Name plate capacity is simply not available on account of many factors such as state controlled power plants being non-operational at Lakhra (Coal), Faisalabad, Multan whereas certain units at Muzaffar Garh and Jamshoro are not in operation since many years due to old technology and inefficiency.
Deployment of Solar Panels & Flooding
Land based solar panels reflect almost 80 % of the sunlight which causes excessive and untimely precipitation leading to flooding .Deployment of floating solar panels can often be synergistic with existing water infrastructure thereby enhancing land use efficiency. With increasing urbanisation, densely populated cities and pressure on water reservoirs and groundwater increasing mounting solar panels on reservoirs will conserve water and concurrently maximize available land resources . An advantage being that the cooling effect of the water improves the efficiency of solar panels leading to higher energy yields compared to land-based installations. Coupled with digital control mechanisms and technological advancements floating solar panel are becoming efficient energy producing systems.Economies of scale and cost-effectiveness tend to accelerate the popularity of such innovative approaches to energy generation and water conservation on a global scale.Concerted actions by the UN and other agencies and organisations is needed to propagate the benefit of floating solar panels as a manner in which to address climate change challenges.
Manufacturing Solar Cells & Trade War
The manufacturing process commences with melting sand (silica) then refining till impurities are reduced to just one atom out of every 100 million to form an element called polysilicon or silicon dioxide which is then sliced into salami-thin wafers. These silicon wafers are treated, printed with electrodes and finally sandwiched between glass. Silicon dioxide or silica is an oxide of silicon (chemical formula SiO2) commonly found in nature as quartz which increases the solubility of the nanoparticles without altering their chemical properties.An oxidation process at elevated temperatures causes silicon dioxide to be chemically grown on the surface through wet oxidation or dry oxidation methods. The silicon dioxide is an amorphous material used in microsystems as a dielectric in capacitors and transistors, as an insulator to isolate various electronic elements and as a structural or sacrificial layer in many micromachining processes.
Till the year 2010 a US company namely Hemlock Semiconductor Corp. in Michigan was the world’s biggest producer of solar polysilicon whereas now 90% of solar panels are imported from China. This year the US administration announced 50% tariffs on Chinese solar cells dubbing “unfair trade practices” which seems more of self perpetuating myths . A US statute of 2022 banned the import of products produced in China’s Xinjiang region unless clear evidence existed that there was no forced labor in their supply chain which has little impact on Chinese solar panels manufacturers as none are located in Xinjiang . The Chinese polysilicon juggernaut is no longer supported by state-owned manufacturers, subsidised loans to factories, tariffs on imported modules or theft of foreign technological expertise. The Chinese business model now is of competitive and private businesses style . Critics argue that US Hemlock’s tax credits have protected it from high power prices and zoning US land for industrial usage can be considered as a subsidy too. The US and Europe allow tax credit for research and development and compete to lower their corporate tax rates to encourage investment which may fall in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) rigidly defined category of subsidy or dumping. The WTO to date has received only one instance alleging subsidy or dumping against the Chinese solar industry.
US Paranoia & China’ Economic Rise
The US based Hemlock Semiconductor Corp. remains content to produce about one-third of the world’s chip-grade polysilicon an essential component of almost every electronic device . Solar polysilicon is considered as the poor relative of the material computer chips are made from the distinction being that impurities of one part in 100 million are considered acceptable for solar panels whereas microprocessors need to be pure to as much as one part in 10 trillion. China’s biggest polysilicon manufacturer Leshan has similarities to USA Hemlock Semiconductor Corp. being located in areas rich in brine .The difference is that Leshan has sufficient cheap electricity available from the Three Gorges Dam further downstream as polysilicon is an energy intensive venture. In the year 2008 China had 20,000 tons of polysilicon production capacity and after the European financial crisis of 2008 European policymakers drastically withdrew subsidies from the solar industry . In the year 2011 spot prices for solar polysilicon plunged from around $50 a kilogram to below $6 per kilogram. The US manufacturer Hemlock Semiconductor Corp. can manage a modest 30,000 metric tons annually whereas the Chinese manufacturer Leshan can by itself produce about 120,000 tons of polysilicon and another Chinese solar manufacturer Tongwei is coming online with a capacity of 480,000 tons enough to meet the combined power requirement of UK and Ireland.
The US appears to be paranoid about China’s economic rise and is convinced that manufacturing of ultra-pure polysilicon micro semiconductor chips is akin to computing power .This belief is entrenched in the American psyche as reflected in the CHIPS Act of 2022 making an amount of around $52 billion in subsidies available to the US microprocessor industry much is excess of any US government financial support of the US solar sector ever.
China compelled to go Solar
China is energy deficient apart from coal reserves with rising extraction costs and related pollution but solay energy has no geological propriety. Its strange that US exports of two crops amounted to $28 billion and $13.7 billion in the year 2023 much more than the $22 billion amount expended on import of solar panels. Chinese solar panels manufacturers are facing stiff competition from South Korea’s Hanwha Solutions Corp. which is indirectly subsidised through a $1.45 billion government loan guarantee to enable it to produce 3.3 GW of wafers annually.
Island Financial Capitals & Carbon Emissions
The world’s leading financial capitals which are also transshipment ports include Singapore and Hong Kong and to some extent London. These capitals are densely populated . Due to their geographical nature huge solid waste is disposed through incineration which , despite precautions, result in significant carbon and heat emissions thereby exacerbating climate risks to the regional marine environment and ecosystems.
Credit : Dreamstine
Authors : Nadir Mumtaz & Razeen Ahmed
Credit/Sources :
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/computer-science/silicon-dioxide-sio2
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-opinion-how-US-lost-solar-power-race-to-China/?srnd=opinion
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