IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - September/October 2014 - 31

The adoption of clean energy technologies is a crucial component
of the wider strategy for both mitigation of the changing climate
and adaptation for the electric power sector.
global installed capacity of solar Pv increased from 4.5 gW
to 65 gW; according to Solar Power: Darkest Before Dawn
(McKinsey & Company, 2012), it was the fastest-growing
renewable power technology. solar Pv technology is indeed
spreading across many borders, reaching countries as farflung as Chile and Kenya.
the integration of clean energy sources and technologies for electricity generation will necessarily transform
the entire power system. solar Pv modules can be used
on a very small scale to power single homes or buildings,
or they can be deployed in large-scale power plants that
feed into the electric power grid. implementing Pv permits
diversification in the scale of power generation and some
decentralization of electric generation. While centralized
generation will continue to be dominant, the decentralized
or distributed minigrid model or off-grid consumption may
partly diminish the need to construct new plants to meet
peak demand and to extend the grid to remote areas. Minigrids could reduce stress on existing transmission and distribution lines prone to bottlenecks as well as the system's
vulnerability to extreme weather patterns. there are obvious advantages to this model in sunny areas with extreme
temperatures and high peak demand. on the other hand,
this adaptation could create many challenges as a system
that was designed to deliver electricity from a small number
of central stations to a large number of users adjusts to a
new model with many small energy producers connected
to the grid. in some countries, the integration of renewable
energy sources without sufficient flexibility and storage in
place is already proving to be difficult.
in comparison with fossil fuels, solar Pv technology
has achieved grid parity in some regions, but worldwide
it is still not a fully cost-competitive alternative. the cost
of solar Pv cells and the overall cost of solar power generation have, however, dropped considerably over the past
decade. According to Solar Power: Darkest Before Dawn,
the price of solar Pv modules dropped from more than Us$4
per watt of nominal power in 2008 to just under Us$1 per
watt of nominal power in January 2012. in the United states,
between 2011 and 2013 the average price of a Pv panel
dropped by 60%, according to the solar energy industries
Association (seiA). it appears that economies of scale are
beginning to be achieved, but the sources of cost reductions
must be teased out carefully.
the Chinese Pv industry contributed substantially to
solar Pv's rapid cost reductions and diffusion around the
world. before the United states imposed tariffs on imported
september/october 2014

solar Pv, in 2012 China gained a leading position in the global
solar Pv market and became a major solar Pv manufacturer,
with more than a 15% share of global Pv cell production,
according to the international energy Agency (ieA). Chinese exports of solar Pv were only worth Us$93 million in
1997, accounting for just 3% of global exports, but by 2011
Chinese exports had soared to Us$27 billion, accounting for
45% of global exports, according to gallagher (see table 1).
According to the ieA, more than 95% of China's Pv cell
products were exported, so until recently China's domestic
solar Pv market remained small. but starting in 2010, solar
Pv installed capacity started to rise steeply in China, and by
2013 the country had 12 gW of installed capacity. for 2014,
China is targeting the installation of an additional 14 gW
in solar Pv capacity, according to bloomberg new energy
finance. in the United states, the cumulative installed solar
Pv capacity reached 13 gW in 2013, of which more than
4.5 gW was installed during 2013, according to seiA.
Most countries will have to participate in the effort to
reduce emissions levels to effectively address the many threats
posed by climate change, and the prompt diffusion of clean
energy technology will play a key role in the process. in the
following section, which draws on gallagher's recent book,
the potential of policies to accelerate the pace and extent of Pv
diffusion is explored based on the Chinese experience.

Global Solar PV Panel Diffusion
Global Diffusion
of Clean Energy Technologies
According to gallagher, the global diffusion of cleaner and
more efficient power technologies is an integral part of the
technological transition of the energy sector, a process of
cumulative industrial learning, and a crucial component for
both climate change mitigation and adaptation of the electricity system on a global scale. in the energy industry, the
diffusion of a technology depends on absorptive capacity in
the receiving country, understood as a set of different abilities ranging from production to innovation capabilities.
in China, solar Pv technology was initially acquired
extremely quickly from abroad due to the country's strong
absorptive capacity and unrivaled manufacturing execution
skills, which benefit greatly from the gigantic manufacturing cluster in China. the diffusion of clean energy technologies was subsequently incentivized through the market
formation policies instituted in many foreign countries. the
Chinese entrepreneurs who founded the new solar firms saw
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - September/October 2014