Earth Notes: General Bibliography (nijsse2023solar)

• [nijsse2023solar] Nijsse, Femke J. M. M. and Mercure, Jean-Francois and Ameli, Nadia and Larosa, Francesca and Kothari, Sumit et al. The momentum of the solar energy transition (accessed 2024-09-02), Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2023-10-17, Nature Communications, volume 14, report/number 1, ISSN 2041-1723, doi:10.1038/s41467-023-41971-7 (article) (BibTeX).
  abstract

  Decarbonisation plans across the globe require zero-carbon energy sources to be widely deployed by 2050 or 2060. Solar energy is the most widely available energy resource on Earth, and its economic attractiveness is improving fast in a cycle of increasing investments. Here we use data-driven conditional technology and economic forecasting modelling to establish which zero carbon power sources could become dominant worldwide. We find that, due to technological trajectories set in motion by past policy, a global irreversible solar tipping point may have passed where solar energy gradually comes to dominate global electricity markets, without any further climate policies. Uncertainties arise, however, over grid stability in a renewables-dominated power system, the availability of sufficient finance in underdeveloped economies, the capacity of supply chains and political resistance from regions that lose employment. Policies resolving these barriers may be more effective than price instruments to accelerate the transition to clean energy.
  note

  [Quote: "These projections and sensitivities give us some confidence to suggest that realistic energy model baselines should, from now on, include substantially larger shares of solar energy than what is commonly assumed, as they make coal and gas-dominated baseline scenarios largely unrealistic." Quote: "... our model suggests that the allocation of storage costs to the grid and charged directly to consumers incentivises more renewables diffusion than requiring renewables to carry the full burden of storage needs [], leading to lower overall system costs." Quote: "We conclude that achieving zero-carbon power systems likely requires policies of a different kind than have traditionally been discussed by the energy modelling community. The carbon price required to achieve cost break-even between renewables and fossil fuels may soon be zero. Instead, it is policies that address the above barriers—grid resilience, access to finance, management of material supply chains and political opposition—that may enable success in reaching net-zero energy emissions."]