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Solar power use growing at fast pace

ISLAMABAD: Solar power is now the world's second fastest growing energy source, at an average growth rate of 16 percent per year since 1990, and the sales of solar cells expanded more than 40 percent in 1997.

Solar energy is also being used in Pakistan and its especially useful in those areas where natural or liquified petroleum gas (LPG) is not available.

"The use of solar energy saves environment as forests are spared from wanton cutting to meet fuel wood requirements", said an environmentalist.

According to Energy Conservation Center (ENERCON), experiments on the use of solar energy have shown encouraging results in Murree and Balochistan areas.

One can buy a complete solar home heating system from market from price starting at Rs 13,000 depending on the requirement and size of the house.

Similarly, solar cookers are also available now starting from as low as Rs 300 to Rs 9,000 a piece.

Now airconditioning units, run on natural gas, are also gaining market in Pakistan. The initial cost of an AC which runs on natural gas is about Rs 30,000 to Rs 35,000.

"Due to abundant sunshine all year around, solar devices are most suitable for Pakistan and can do enormous saving for the users as well as the government", experts maintain.

"World solar markets are growing at 10 times the rate of the oil industry, whose sales have expanded at just 1.4 percent per year since 1990", says a new report from the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute.

"Solar energy may now join computers and telecommunications as a leading growth industry in the 21st century, "say the report's authors, Christopher Flavin and Molly O'Meara.

The roughly 800 megawatts of solar power capacity now in place, is sufficient to run 40 million 20-watt radios, but still represents less than 1 percent of global power supplies. But as governments move to implement the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and replace fossil fuels, solar power is poised to benefit.

"If solar power is to reach its long-term potential, scientists will need to improve the technology and drive prices down, and governments must lower barriers to the industry's development", say the Worldwatch researchers.

Already, new technologies are lowering the cost of manufacturing solar cells, which are closely related to the silicon semi-conductor chips found in today's computers. Several companies are focused on a new generation of "thin film" solar cells that require cheaper raw materials Ñ and less of them.

Scientists believe that such technologies can cut solar cell costs from $4,000 per kilowatt today to $1,000 in the next decade, which would make them a competitive source of electricity in many arts of the world.

In sunny climates, where air-conditioning drives power demand up on summer afternoons, this price would make solar power competitive with fossil fuel-based electricity, according to the report.

Solar electric systems can also increase the reliability of the power supply in cities such as Chicago, which have recently experienced brownouts due to over-dependence on long-distance transmission lines and giant coal and nuclear plants.

Currently valued at about $1 billion a year, the solar business has recently attracted sizable investments by major energy companies such as Enron, Amoco, British Petroleum, and Royal Dutch Shell. These companies and others are investing in new manufacturing plants. Factories announced over the last year alone could double global production of solar cells in the next few years. APP