BIBLIOS

Document type
Journal articles

Document subtype
Full paper

Title
Persistence of the high solar potential in Africa in a changing climate

Participants in the publication
Pedro M M Soares (Author)
Dep. Engenharia Geográfica, Geofísica e Energia
IDL
Miguel C Brito (Author)
Dep. Engenharia Geográfica, Geofísica e Energia
IDL
João A M Careto (Author)
IDL

Summary
The African continent faces several challenges and threats: high vulnerability to climate change, the fastest population increase, the lowest degree of electrification and the need for an energy transition towards renewable energies. Solar energy constitutes a viable option for addressing these issues. In a changing climate the efficient implementation of solar capacity should rely on comprehensive information about the solar resource. Here, the newest and highest resolution regional climate simulation results are used to project the future photovoltaic and concentrated solar power potentials for Africa. We show that the high potentials for solar energy will not be reduced much throughout Africa with climate change. However, the PV solar potential is projected to decrease up to about −10% in limited areas of eastern central Africa; increases are also projected to the northwest and southern Africa (up to about +5%). These changes are mostly determined by changes in solar irradiance but in certain areas the warming is a critical factor limiting PV potential.


Institution
Instituto Dom Luiz (IDL), Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749–016, Lisboa, Portugal

Where published
Environmental Research Letters

Publication Identifiers
ISSN - 1748-9326

Publisher
IOP Publishing



Document Identifiers
DOI - https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab51a1
URL - http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab51a1

Rankings
SCIMAGO Q1 (2018) - 2.71 - Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

Keywords
climate change photovoltaic production regional climate model

Tags
SOLAR

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