By Steff Gaulter
When I first arrived in Qatar, I was really confused at the lack of solar energy that is used here. In the UK, electricity and gas are expensive. People are conscious of how much energy they use. They are also far more concerned about the environment.
My introduction into the lack of environmental concern in Qatar is quite an abrupt one. In one of my first weeks in the country, I went to the Toyoto dealership to enquire about the hybrid car — the Prius. I was laughed out of the showroom.
It still puzzles me why renewable energy is not used here. After all, it’s the ideal place for it. Qatar is very flat and very windy, and is surrounded on three sides by sea. It’s in the prime location to utilise wind energy, and as for solar energy…well let’s just say that the main reason that so many British people live here is because of the endless sunshine. We don’t see much of that in the UK!
Of course all of this is off-set by the fact that Qatar is rich in hydrocarbons, which the government generously subsidises for the lucky residents. This means that the financial concern of petrol and electricity is removed. On top of this, the desert and searing heat doesn’t scream ‘your environment needs protecting’ and the obvious signs are distinctly absent: such as the lack of recycling. We’re effectively shielded from almost all environmental issues.
In my mind, surely using more renewable energy in Qatar and selling the gas and oil on the international market would make more financial sense for the country. It’s not a move that would be financially popular with most of us living here, but it would certainly force the environmental issue.
Australia is another country that’s famous for sunshine, but it doesn’t have the same subsidy of its utilities. As a direct result, the use of roof-top solar energy has exploded. The use is such widespread that at the beginning of July, the wholesale price of electricity in Queensland dropped below zero during the middle of the day. This is the first time this has happened in living memory.
Wholesale prices that drop below zero are not uncommon, but they normally happen at night. This is when the demand is at its lowest, but power stations are reluctant to switch off so they pay others to pick up their output. Negative pricing is not expected during the day, when demand is at its peak, and therefore so should the prices.
Unfortunately the wholesale price isn’t the price that is paid by the customer. This is the retail cost, which includes the distribution costs, and of course in most countries, including Australia, is taxed. It is the rise of this final price which has driven so many people to install their own solar panels.
Many countries have incentives to encourage people to switch to renewable energy, including the ability to sell excess solar energy back to the national grid. In Queensland, due to the popularity of solar panels, this practice has been stopped. However, whilst this might be an attempt to discourage the installation of solar panels, in the long run it’s more likely to encourage people to install battery storage units.
The problem of storage is currently one of the two main drawbacks of solar panels. It is currently very difficult to store the energy which is generated during the day, meaning that another energy source is necessary for after the sun has set. If storage were cheaper, this could transform the economics of the whole industry. Some residents, especially those in rural parts of Australia, could disconnect from the grid altogether.
There are signs that a major breakthrough in energy storage is close. Particularly promising is a metal-free battery which uses organic compounds called quinones. This battery could be linked to devices such as roof top solar panels to store energy which could then be released as and when it is needed.
The other factor that can deter people from using solar panels is the price. The panels are still rather expensive, and this is due to the material used in their construction. About 90% of the solar panels that are currently in use are made of photo-voltaic cells composed of silicon semiconductors, which convert sunlight directly into electricity. This is the type of panels that are being constructed in a new factory in Doha’s Industrial Area. The plant is the largest in the region, and will supply panels throughout the world, with contracts already in place with Japan and Thailand.
Despite its popularity, silicon is not good at absorbing sunlight, which is quite a drawback for a solar panel! Some scientists believe that the future in solar panels lies in cadmium telluride. This substance absorbs sunlight so well that it only needs to be about 100th of the thickness of silicon. This is the only thin film material which has been found so far which can rival silicon in terms of cost and efficiency.
Up until now, the drawback of using cadmium telluride was that it needed to be activated by cadmium chloride, which is very expensive and also toxic. However, researchers believe that they have found a breakthrough which will make the cells significantly cheaper and safer.
Scientists have discovered that they can use magnesium chloride in place of cadmium chloride. This is a major advantage, as magnesium chloride is low-cost and completely harmless; it can simply be extracted from sea water and in some countries is already used to de-ice roads in winter.
If this breakthrough of efficiency can be combined with advances in storage, then there is likely to be an explosion in the use of solar energy over the next decade. This is something that many energy companies will be eyeing nervously, particularly the government owned electricity generator in Queensland, Stanwell Corp. The company failed to make any money in 2013, and any further expansion in solar energy will certainly not be welcome.
