The production costs of photovoltaic cells are collapsing, and so in the coming years, the solar become a 'mainstream option' for the production of electricity. It supports the Worldwatch Institute in Washington in a document drawn up together with the Prometheus Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and released a couple of weeks ago. Interestingly, even as the climate issue on the agenda of world leaders - fighting the abnormal warming of the atmosphere means ridure gas emissions, "greenhouse" such as carbon dioxide, emitted in combustion processes and especially when we burn fossil fuels, thus producing more energy alternatives to oil (and renewable). The sun's energy is one of the ideal alternative. And though a bit 'costs, a bit 'the political will, ensure that by the time the solar panel option remains minor. At least the first
alibi, however, the cost begins to fail. In fact, production costs have already dropped a lot compared to twenty or thirty years ago, and now we see a collapse. Only since 2000 the PV industry has grown six times, and grew by 41% in 2006 alone. It is true that solar electricity networks still represents less than 1% of the world, but in 2006 increased by 50%, notes the Worldwatch. (As an aside it should be noted that the production of solar energy comes in the networks because it will be on a tiny scale for a consumer located in remote places: the panel next to the house of a village in the Amazon carries the electricity to where they will never get the cable distribution network, but does not enter into calculations. For "isolated users," let's call them, solar energy is not alternative but the only possible). But back to the production recorded in networks: driving the boom are Germany and Japan, and Spain will enter the group this year (thanks to its new solar power plant) and the United States followed closely.
So far, notes Worldwatch, growth was limited by a shortage of industrial production of purified polysilicon, which is necessary for photovoltaic cells (the same semiconductor material at the base of the electronics industry, but in 2006 for the first time more than half of the polysilicon product in the world has been used to make photovoltaic cells). This will change over the next two years, when they come into production over a dozen producers of polysilicon in Europe, China, Japan and the USA. The increased availability, together with new advances in technology will lower costs by 40% over the next three years, according to estimates Prometheus Institute. Here, as in many other areas, pushing costs down, in particular, is China with its thirst for energy, the wide availability of labor and its strong industrial base. The biggest news of 2006 was the growth in production capacity in China, which overtook the United States (home of the first modern solar cell, produced by Bell Labs in the 50s): China now has the third largest producer of solar cells, after Germany and Japan. Producing the first Chinese company, Suntech Power, was the eighth largest producer in 2005 and fourth in 2006 (and its president has become one of the richest Chinese).
Meanwhile, the shortage of raw materials (polysilicon) has led manufacturers to use it more efficiently, thereby speeding up the emergence of technologies that do not rely on purified polysilicon and are even cheaper, so-called thin cells made amorphous silicon and other cheaper materials. All this, concludes the Worldwatch Institute, indicates that the PV is becoming a viable and competitive option for generating electricity without emitting carbon dioxide. I'll have even the Italian planners will take note, since we are in the bottom places ...
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