Huge solar farms can influence the amount of solar energy produced in other parts of the world.
The sun's energy is certainly unlimited. Although resources like coal and gas are limited, the use and use of solar energy does not stop others from enjoying as much sunlight as they need.
But that's not the whole story. Once they reach a certain size, solar farms become large enough to influence the surrounding climate and ultimately the climate as a whole. New research examined the impact of solar farms on changing the climate and therefore solar energy production in other parts of the world.
We know that solar energy depends on weather conditions and production varies depending on the day and season. Clouds, rain, snow and fog can prevent sunlight from reaching the solar panels. On cloudy days, performance can drop by up to 75%, and efficiency also decreases in high temperatures.
In the long term, climate change could impact cloud cover and the amount of solar energy that can be generated in some regions. For example, northern Europe is likely to experience a decrease in solar radiation, while the rest of Europe, the East Coast of the United States, and northern China are expected to experience a slight increase in solar radiation.
The impact of large solar parks on the climate
If truly massive solar farms were ever built, spanning countries and continents, they could have a similar impact. The latest research used a computer program to model the Earth system and how hypothetical giant solar farms covering 20% ​​of the Sahara would affect the way solar energy is produced around the world.
Photovoltaic (PV) panels are dark in color and therefore absorb more heat than reflective desert sand. Although some of the energy is converted into electricity, most of it still heats the panel. And when millions of these panels are grouped together, the entire area heats up. If these solar panels were placed in the Sahara, our modeling shows that this new heat source would reorganize global weather patterns, attracting rain from the tropics and making the desert greener than it was 5,000 years ago.
This, in turn, will impact cloud cover patterns and the amount of solar energy that can be generated worldwide. Regions becoming cloudier and less capable of producing solar energy include the Middle East, southern Europe, India, eastern China, Australia and the southwestern United States. Regions that will produce the most solar energy include Central and South America, the Caribbean, the central and eastern United States, Scandinavia and South Africa.
How will this impact global solar energy potential?:
Something similar happened when we modeled the impacts of giant solar power plants in other hotspots in Central Asia, Australia, the southwestern United States, and northwestern China, each causing climate change in different places.
For example, the huge solar farms that would cover much of the Australian outback would make the weather sunnier in South Africa but cloudier in the UK, particularly in summer.
When huge solar farms are installed in other dry areas:
There are a few points you should keep in mind. The situation will change by a few percent at most: no matter how much solar we build, it will still be cold and cloudy in Scandinavia and hot and sunny in Australia.
In all cases, these effects are based on hypothetical scenarios. For example, our Sahara scenario is based on covering 20% ​​of the entire desert with photovoltaic parks, and although there have been ambitious proposals, nothing on this scale is possible in the near future. If the area covered were reduced to 5% of the Sahara (although this is still unlikely), the overall impact would be negligible.
Why is this experiment on large solar farms important?
But in a future world where almost all regions are increasingly investing in and dependent on solar projects, interactions between solar energy resources have the potential to shape the energy landscape and create a complex web of interdependencies, competition and opportunities.
Some countries' geopolitics in building solar projects could create important new energy sources and impact the potential of solar production beyond their borders.
That's why it's so important to strengthen cooperation between countries to ensure that the benefits of solar energy are distributed equitably around the world. By sharing knowledge and collaborating on land use planning for future large-scale solar projects, countries must develop and implement equitable and sustainable energy solutions while avoiding unwanted risks to solar energy production in remote areas.
This article was written by Zhengyao Lu, a researcher in physical geography at Lund University, and Jingchao Long, an associate professor at the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences, Guangdong Ocean University. It is republished by The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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