“Global trends and developments in renewable energy”
Napier’s second international conference on Solar and Wind Energy will bring together a panel of experts who will present their latest R&D findings in a FREE online conference that is to be held on Tuesday 15th March 2022.
The growth of solar and wind energy is nothing but spectacular with current annual increase being in double digits. Despite the restrictions imposed by the Covid pandemic, at the end of year 2020 the installed capacities of solar and wind respectively stood at 714 and 743 Gigawatt. To put those figures in perspective Drax, the largest power station in UK has a capacity of 1GW. Such large capacity additions are helping conserve Carbon dioxide emissions – solar and wind combined now prevent the release of over billion tonnes of CO2. That is twice the annual emissions of South America. The trend is exponential with solar and wind installations adding 80% of all new electricity generation capacity in 2020.
China has taken the lead in solar and even as far back as year 2017 it had more than 50% of the global installation. Europe, however, is the leader in wind energy conversion, it being responsible for 12% of the total electricity supply. The comparative figures for China and USA are 5 and 7%.
The rapidly decreasing cost of renewables is a major contributor for the energy revolution with solar PV module cost dropping by 85% between 2010 and 2019.
Edinburgh Napier University has been at the forefront of Solar and Wind energy research with the largest wind tunnel being installed as far back as 1985 and the then largest solar PV façade installed at it Merchiston campus in 2005.
The presentations from the conference can be viewed below:
The videos can be viewed here:
Dr Taizo Masuda, Toyota Motor Corporation, Japan: ‘Progress and prospects of vehicle-integrated photovoltaics and efforts at Toyota’:
Mr Elmie Fairul Mashuri, Managing Director, GSPARX Sdn Bhd, Malaysia: ‘Distributed Generation using Rooftop Solar by GSPARX Sdn Bhd’
Mr Yusof Yusrizal, Managing Director, TNB Renewables Sdn Bhd, Malaysia: ‘Malaysia Renewable Energy Journey and Solar Development Models Around the World’
Dr Leonardo Micheli, Sapienza University of Rome: ‘Optimization and Economics of Large-Scale Photovoltaic Soiling Loss Mitigation’
Dr Leonardo Micheli – Questions
Prof Soteris Kalogriou, Dean of the School of Engineering and Technology, Cyprus University of Technology: ‘Renewable Energy Systems: Current Status in the World and Prospects’
Dr Muhammad Wakil Shahzad, Senior Lecturer in Mechanical and Construction Engineering Department, Northumbria University, UK: ‘Solar Energy Storage and Application for Tri-hybrid Cycle for Future Sustainable Water Supplies’
Closing Remarks: