London (Platts)--4Sep2007

Electricity from solar photovoltaic cells--which harness energy from
sunlight and convert it to electricity--is set to become price competitive
with conventional power generation, a joint report published Tuesday by
Greenpeace and the European Photovoltaic Industry Association said. 
     Their latest annual report on the solar power industry "Solar Generation
2007" forecast continued growth for the solar power industry, which is
projected generate revenues of up to Eur300 billion ($408 billion) by 2020
creating 6.5 million jobs and meeting 9.4% of the world's electricity demand. 
     "The solar photovoltaic industry will invest from now until 2010, Eur14
billion globally in extending PV factories. Mass production will enable us to
reduce prices and we expect to be competitive, in some regions, with end
consumer prices for electricity by 2015," said EPIA president Winifried
Hoffman. 
Greenpeace and EPIA said that expansion of solar power could also result in
sizeable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. 
     "The current surge in photovoltaic (PV) solar electricity is only a taste
of what is to come. Through PV we can save billions of tones of CO2 , create
millions of jobs and power homes throughout the world with renewable energy.  
     "It has the added benefit of bringing electricity to billions of people
currently cut off from the grid," said Sven Teske, Greenpeace Renewable Energy
Campaigner. 
     "Solar generators will soon challenge utilities, as they produce
electricity to competitive prices just where it is needed--at home." 
     "By 2030 annual CO2 reductions would add up to just over 1 billion tonnes
a year; equivalent to the 2004 emissions for the whole of India, or the output
of 300 coal-fired power plants. The cumulative savings from solar generation
by 2030, would have reached a massive 6.6 billion tonnes," the report states.
     The report notes that total installed capacity of solar photovoltaics
reached 6.5 GW peak in 2006, up from 1.2 GWp in 2000, with annual growth rates
averaging 35% since 1998. The report said the industry was already worth more
than Eur9 billion/year, but Greenpeace and EPIA urged governments to create
the right climate for further investments, through support programs like
feed-in tariffs, which provide guaranteed rates of return for solar power
generators.   
    "The industry is commited to making PV solar power generation successful,
but it needs political support and will. The world is ready for an energy
revolution, governments need to back their climate-fighting rhetoric with real
world support for renewable energy technologies like PV to make it a reality,"
said Greenpeace's Teske.