Study: World may have crossed solar power tipping point

Solar power is likely to become the world’s dominant energy source before 2050 – even without the support of ambitious climate policies. That’s the finding of a study conducted by the University of Exeter and University College London using a data-driven technology and economic model. »The recent progress of renewables means that fossil fuel-dominated projections are no longer realistic,« says Femke Nijsse of the Global Systems Institute at Exeter: »Traditional models also tend to assume the ›end of learning‹ at some point in the near future – when in fact we are still seeing very rapid innovation in solar technology.«
Instead of trying to bring about the transition to solar energy per se, governments should focus their policies on overcoming the four main problem areas: grid expansion, access to finance in lower-income countries, supply chains and political resistance from declining industries.
The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, is titled: »The momentum of the solar energy transition«.
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