China, the United States and India have the top three in solar power potential in the world

    A new international study shows that the lowest rooftop solar leveling cost (L C O E) ($66 / MWh) in India (China ($68 / MWh) is the most expensive in the US ($238 / MWh) and the UK ($251 / MWh).

    The study report was co-authored by Professor Priyadarshi Shukla, University of Ahmedabad (Ahmedabad University) and Director of the Global Centre for the Environment and Energy, with Shivika Mittal from Imperial College London (Imperial College London) and James Glynn from Columbia University (Columbia University).The research team was led by Siddharth Joshi, a researcher at M a R E I at the S F I Energy, Climate and Marine Research Center at Cork University College (University College Cork).

    The study shows that the global rooftop solar power potential is 27 awatts per year (PWh).Due to the corresponding increase in building stock, nearly 20% global potential is located in areas with higher population density.Among various countries, China (4.3 PWh / year), the United States (4.2 PWh / year) and India (1.7 PWh / year) have the highest solar generation potential.

    Shuklat said: " Solar energy is generated during the day, just during the peak hours of power demand.India's solar roof potential at 1.7 watts per year is huge.As long as efficient solar panels are installed on 40% of the available roof area in India, we are able to meet the country's current power needs of 1.3 watts per year.”

    A modeling framework was employed to assess the generation potential of global rooftop solar PV systems and their associated costs.The authors used 130 million square kilometers to map the global surface area of the machine learning algorithm, determined the rooftop area at 200,000 square kilometers, and then analyzed the rooftop area to record the global rooftop solar photovoltaic power generation potential.

    In 2018, rooftop solar panels exceeded the total global annual energy consumption.However, the report notes that its future potential depends on the energy storage solution development and cost of the energy generated.