Talk:Solar power by country

Error in figure 1 and caption?

Something doesn't add up in figure 1 and its caption:

"Growth rate of photovoltaic installations, as a percentage of total 2004 energy use. By 2007 less than 0.011% of energy came from photovoltaics - at a 40% annual increase this would reach almost 30% by 2030, or by 2015 at a 200% annual increase."

Starting from a total PV energy production of 15 TW*0.011%=1.76 GW, a 40% annual increase would give a total PV energy production after 20 years of 1.76 GW*1.4^20=1.47 TW. This is 1.47/15=9.8% of the total consumption (assuming consumption doesn't increase), not 30% as claimed by the caption/figure. Or am I missing something/doing the calculation wrong??

O. Prytz (talk) 05:39, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

Ok, I'm removing the figure as I consider it erroneous. O. Prytz (talk) 16:15, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

Contradiction

These two statements appear mutually contradictory.

"The world's largest solar power plant is located in the Mojave Desert. Solel[11], an Israeli company, operates the plant, which consists of 1000 acres (4 km²) of solar reflectors."

"The 10 megawatt Bavaria Solarpark in Germany is the world's largest solar electric system, covering 25 hectares (62 acres) with 57,600 photovoltaic panels. [4]"

Perhaps the author can resolve this.

Ordinary Person 09:21, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

The second is a large photovoltaic plant. The first is a much much larger solar trough plant. Article sorted out. Rmhermen 17:32, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

Serpa

2007.03.29 - Serpa is now fully functional

PV or Solar Power?

This article is not clear whether it talks about PV only, or Solar power as a whole. Jdpipe 00:34, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

"But as all industrialised nations share a need for electricity, it is clear that solar power will increasingly be used to supply a cheap, reliable electricity supply."

Solar pv use is certainly on the rise, but solar pv can hardly be called cheap. It is positively high priced, can only compete with grid electricity when doing so on a skewed playing field, ie with one or more of the following situations:

• grid connection not present
• govt or someone else pays for part of your system, and you only consider your part of the cost
• someone pays you to generate and use electricity - bizarre as this sounds, it is now standard practice in Britain.

The non-expert reader seeing the sentence quoted would think solar pv cheap, but its anything but. Tabby 12:59, 13 April 2007 (UTC)

I took out "cheap" and some other stuff, but put "economic". The conditions that make it economic can be discussed if you like, and if you have a good source, but obviously the solar power is economic for some reason, and not necessarily limited to the reasons you suggest. Even in the US where energy is subsidized by the government supporting the energy companies, and where many of the costs of fossil fuel are externalized, there is a new capital business investing in solar capacity because the economics makes sense.

Am I missing something? Isn't the title of the article Deployment of Solar Power to energy grids? To me this means all types of solar power, not just pv. 199.125.109.104 06:22, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

Feel free to add any other solar technology you know about that puts energy into the grid. I know there's a big solar thermal plant in southern california; are there more? Dicklyon 07:27, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

Summary table

I moved the summary table over from PV. It would be good to replace the off grid data by CSP data.

Also a global list of solar power stations should pulled from PV and the CSP and hybrid added in.--Oldboltonian 20:11, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

I would like to know the rationale for having a Total/capita column on the PV Capacity table. I also suggest putting a kWh output total on the table. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.229.196.79 (talk) 03:47, 7 October 2007 (UTC)

Suggest move

I suggest we rename this article to Solar power by country since it's a very wordy and indirect title now. There is a lot of overlap in solar power articles and this title could collect information now scattered in other places. --Wtshymanski (talk) 17:47, 22 March 2011 (UTC)

Follow the money

There's a reason that the world's (currently) largest solar PV plant is in gloomy southern Ontario and not in some sensible sunny place like Arizona or Spain - that is, a 42 cent a kilowatthour feed-in tariff. We've got people in Ontario cashing in their retirement savings to buy PV plants since the ROI is so good, and screaming that they can't get grid interconnections now. PV power is more about politics than physics. --Wtshymanski (talk) 18:25, 24 August 2011 (UTC)

It is too simplistic to be saying that investors in Ontario are greedy. Maybe they want to support PV for environmental or other reasons. Maybe they see PV as an ethical investment that will provide benefits for their children.

Moreover, PV is just one example of solar power. Do you also think that solar thermal power plants are being built in “gloomy” locations? Check out List of solar thermal power stations; most large solar thermal power plants have been built in Spain or sunny parts of the USA:

Operational solar thermal power stations

Capacity (MW)	Name	Country	Location	Notes
354	Solar Energy Generating Systems	USA	Mojave Desert California	Collection of 9 units
150	Solnova Solar Power Station	Spain	Seville	Completed 2010 <ref name="50 million euro">{{cite web|author=RSS Feed for Craig Rubens Email Craig Rubens Craig Rubens |url=http://earth2tech.com/2008/08/08/abengoa-rakes-in-426m-for-4-solar-power-plants/ |title=Abengoa Rakes in $426M for 4 Solar Power Plants |publisher=Earth2tech.com |date=2008-08-08 |accessdate=2011-04-19}}</ref><ref> {{cite web| url= http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/20263 | title= Abengoa Begins Operation of 50MW Concentrating Solar Power Plant | date= May 6, 2010 |work= | publisher= SustainableBusiness.com News | accessdate= 2010-05-07 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abengoasolar.com/corp/web/en/about_us/general/news/archive/2010/solar_20100505.html |title=Abengoa Solar begins commercial operation of Solnova 1 |publisher=Abengoasolar.com |date=2010-05-05 |accessdate=2011-04-19}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abengoasolar.com/corp/web/en/about_us/general/news/archive/2010/solar_20100524.html |title=Abengoa Solar begins commercial operation of Solnova 3 |publisher=Abengoasolar.com |date=2010-05-24 |accessdate=2011-04-19}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abengoasolar.com/corp/web/en/about_us/general/news/archive/2010/solar_20100802.html |title=Abengoa Solar Reaches Total of 193 Megawatts Operating |publisher=Abengoasolar.com |date=2010-08-02 |accessdate=2011-04-19}}</ref>
100	Andasol solar power station	Spain	Granada	Completed 2009 <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cincodias.com/articulo/empresas/Acciona-ACS-inscriben-termosolares-registro-Industria/20091023cdscdiemp_13/cdsemp/ |title=Acciona y ACS inscriben sus termosolares en el registro de Industria |publisher=Cincodias.com |date=2009-10-23 |accessdate=2011-04-19}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.labolsa.com/noticias/20090823122856001/economia-empresas-acs-aumenta-un-22-6-las-ganancias-de-su-negocio-de-energia-verde-en-la-primera-mitad-de-ano/ |title=ACS aumenta un 22,6% las ganancias de su negocio de 'energía verde' en la primera mitad de año |publisher=Labolsa.com |date=2010-10-08 |accessdate=2011-04-19}}</ref>
64	Nevada Solar One	USA	Boulder City, Nevada
50	Ibersol Ciudad Real	Spain	Puertollano, Ciudad Real	Completed May 2009<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iberdrolarenovables.es/wcren/corporativa/iberdrola?IDPAG=ENMODULOPRENSA&URLPAG=/gc/en/comunicacion/notasprensa/090508_NP_primera_termosolar.html |title=José María Barreda and Ignacio Galán open IBERDROLA RENOVABLES’ first solar termal power plant |publisher=Iberdrolarenovables.es |date=2011-04-14 |accessdate=2011-04-19}}</ref>
50	Alvarado I	Spain	Badajoz	Completed July 2009<ref>[http://solarpaces2008.sandia.gov/SolarPACES%20PLENARIES/2%20WEDNESDAY%20INDUSTRY%20DAY%20SESSIONS/1%20PLEN%20CSP%20PLANTS%20TODAY/01%20Acciona%20Cohen%20SOLARPACES%202008.pdf Acciona Status Solarpaces 2008] ''p.25''</ref><ref>[http://www.acciona.es/press-/news/11032008-acciona-energ%C3%ADa-develops-900.aspx?page=2 ACCIONA Energía develops 900-million-euro renewables projects in the region of Extremadura]{{dead link|date=April 2011}}</ref><ref>[http://www.acciona.com/press-/news/270709-acciona-opens-its-first-csp-plant-in-spain-in-extremadura- ACCIONA opens its first CSP plant in Spain, in Extremadura]{{dead link|date=April 2011}}</ref>
50	Extresol 1	{{flag|Spain}}||Torre de Miguel Sesmero (Badajoz)||Completed February 2010 <ref name="Protermosolar">{{cite web|url=http://www.protermosolar.com/boletines/18/mapa%20Rev22a.jpg |title=Lokalizacion de Centrales Termosolares de Espana |date= |accessdate=2011-04-19}}</ref><ref name="madrimasd">[http://www.madrimasd.org/informacionidi/agenda/foros-mimasd/documentos/energia/JA_Nebrera_ACS_26_02_08.pdf Solar Thermal Power Generation - A Spanish Success Story]{{dead link|date=April 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.estelasolar.eu/fileadmin/ESTELAdocs/documents/powerplants/extresol/EXTRESOL_-_24_FEB_2010.pdf |title=ACS LAUNCHES THE OPERATION PHASE OF ITS THIRD DISPATCHABLE 50 MW THERMAL POWER PLANT IN SPAIN, EXTRESOL-1 |format=PDF |date= |accessdate=2011-04-19}}</ref>
50	La Florida	Spain	Alvarado (Badajoz)	completed July 2010<ref name="Protermosolar" /><ref>{{cite web|last=Matters |first=Energy |url=http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=960 |title=Spain - A Solar Thermal Powerhouse |publisher=Energymatters.com.au |date= |accessdate=2011-04-19}}</ref>

-- Johnfos (talk) 20:54, 24 August 2011 (UTC)

Where were these heroes of environmentalism before the 42 cents a kwh? --Wtshymanski (talk) 21:01, 24 August 2011 (UTC)

Ontario investors are not “heroes of environmentalism”. They are simply rational investors who take financial and non-financial considerations into account when making decisions.

There are many factors which affect the take-up of new technology and some of them are discussed in diffusion of innovations theory. It is a complex process. The private sector, public sector, investors, and consumers themselves all have a role to play. Johnfos (talk) 21:34, 24 August 2011 (UTC)

File:Moody Sunburst.jpg Nominated for speedy Deletion

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Mexico

I see that there is no page for Mexico, and there is a pretty limited amount of details. The potential in Mexico is supposed to be significant.[1] This also talks about potential there. I think it would be nice to expand here or even create a new page for it, so I plan on taking a look around and seeing what I can do. Spangled53 (talk) 01:22, 12 April 2012 (UTC)

Orphaned references in Solar power by country

I check pages listed in Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting to try to fix reference errors. One of the things I do is look for content for orphaned references in wikilinked articles. I have found content for some of Solar power by country's orphans, the problem is that I found more than one version. I can't determine which (if any) is correct for this article, so I am asking for a sentient editor to look it over and copy the correct ref content into this article.

Reference named "woody":

• From Renewable energy commercialization: Todd Woody. In California’s Mojave Desert, Solar-Thermal Projects Take Off Yale Environment 360, 27 October 2010.
• From Solar power in the United States: "Brightsource Ivanpah".

I apologize if any of the above are effectively identical; I am just a simple computer program, so I can't determine whether minor differences are significant or not. AnomieBOT⚡ 10:40, 28 March 2014 (UTC)

Can we keep "Middle East" as region on its onw, plzzz?

Although I completely understand user: ‎Gidonb's intention to list all countries by their conventional classification, I'd rather prefer to keep the Middle East as an section on its own. The photovoltaic industry considers the MEA or MENA states (Middle East and {North} Africa) as a distinct region. In my view, the conventional classification (Middle East as a part of Asia) will cause troubles for all sorts of statistics and section-linking in the near future. Of course, I might be the only one who cares about that now. -- Rfassbind (talk) 16:44, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

Hi Rfassbind, thanks for the reminder on my talk page! Obviously I care about regions and spatial integrity.

Inserting the Middle East between the continents is a lot like adding sand into cake batter as it is bound to spoil any and all outcomes! Now obviously sand does belong in some mixture (concrete) and likewise it is good to keep in mind that the Middle East is not just another region, but a very special one: an intercontinental region (compare to Latin America). It combines parts of two continents (Latin America a complete continent and parts of another), and not just parts Asia, so when you introduce the Middle East between the continents you are eliminating the spatial integrity of both continents (or a combination of these with the region).

To give an example: Egypt is in the Middle East and in Africa. After you inserted the Middle East between the continents, either Africa or the Middle East is incomplete or you are dealing with double listing. You also misled the reader to believe that the Middle East is an equivalent of Africa, or rather, since most readers are intelligent, caused the reader to respect Wikipedia less. The same would apply with Saudi Arabia and Asia and the Middle East and this is a country and a continent that are both very much there. gidonb (talk) 16:52, 21 November 2014 (UTC)