An Emarati man stands on a balcony overlooking the Shams 1, Concentrated Solar power (CSP) plant, in al-Gharibiyah district on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi during the inauguration of the facility on March 17, 2013. Being a first-mover in the Middle East, the UAE has built up the biggest renewables market among its regional peers with a current project pipeline worth $1bn which includes a huge solar power plant in Abu Dhabi and another one in Dubai.
By Arno Maierbrugger/Gulf Times Correspondent/Bangkok
Solar power and photovoltaic installations around the world are currently in a dramatic expansion mode, with their capacity expected to triple by 2020, according to a report by UK-based research firm GlobalData. The study forecasts installed capacity of currently 136 gigawatts will expand to 414 gigawatts by the end of the decade in 2020.
Interestingly, the bulk of new installations will happen in emerging Asia, the study notes, with the Middle East, China, India, Japan and Southeast Asia standing at the forefront of this shift to sustainable energy production.
Being a first-mover in the Middle East, the UAE has built up the biggest renewables market among its regional peers with a current project pipeline worth $1bn which includes a huge solar power plant in Abu Dhabi and another one in Dubai. In Qatar, the Qatar General Electricity and Water Corp (Kahraama) has just announced that the country’s first solar power station, located in Duhail, will open in the first quarter of 2016. Saudi Arabia has said it will build no less than five solar power stations all over the country in the coming years.
In Asia, China has taken on the lead, with one-third of all solar panels installed worldwide in 2013 and a target of 1,800 gigawatts of installed solar capacity set by 2020. In addition, many Asian countries have created new subsidies and tax benefits for solar power plant investors and operators.
Participants of the Solar Energy Southeast Asia 2014 exhibition, the largest such event on the industry in the region held from November 25 to 26 in Bangkok, Thailand, shed a light on the tremendous opportunities of the solar power sector. Many nations in Southeast Asia are pushing solar power projects in the wake of continuously rising power demand by private consumers and the industry, as well as high electricity costs due to dependency on costly imported energy sources such as coal, oil and natural gas.
The largest market for solar energy in Southeast Asia is Thailand. The country has the target to produce 500 megawatts of solar energy by 2022, but private sector project applications at a volume of 1,300 megawatts are already on the energy ministry’s table. In comparison: 1,000 megawatts are sufficient to power around 750,000 homes all year round.
The Philippines is the second largest solar power market in Southeast Asia and has set itself a target in the National Renewable Energy Plan of more than 1,500 gigawatts produced from solar power by 2030. The country’s leading solar power firm, Solar Philippines, has just equipped a mall in Metro Manila, SM City North Edsa, with a solar power facility generating 1.5 megawatts, making it the world’s biggest solar-powered mall to date. There are also a number of initiatives to promote solar power in rural areas.
Indonesia plans to replace costly diesel generators and install 7 gigawatts of renewable power plants in the near future, of which 20% will be solar power facilities. The new administration under President Joko Widodo is expected to announce far more ambitious targets, though. And even subsidy-averse Singapore is looking for ways to incentivise the use of solar energy, the exhibition was told.
According to Alex Lenz, Asia and Middle East president of Germany-based Conergy, one of the world’s largest solar power companies which is strongly engaged in emerging regions and particularly in Asia and the Middle East, the market “has a huge potential in the region”.
And although sliding oil and gas prices are easing the financial burden of power generation in emerging countries, solar power is still a cheaper – and of course environmentally much more attractive – option. Prices for solar panels have dropped from around of $5 per watt in 2010 to $0.5 per watt as of today, translating into a 90% price drop. Around 70% of the most widely used crystalline silicon solar modules are produced in China, making it an undisputed world market leader. And if China continues to produce low-cost reliable solar modules, the market is certainly poised for further strong growth, estimated by researcher GlobalOne at 20% increase in the number of installations annually up to 2020.
