Power harnessed from the Sun, more commonly known as Solar Energy is the most popular form of renewable energy across the world. While this concept has existed throughout human history, it was the discovery of the Photovoltaic effect that propelled the idea of harnessing solar energy to produce electricity. Photovoltaics, often shortened to PV, is converting light energy, specifically sunlight, into electricity. This conversion happens through a technology called the photovoltaic effect. The 2000s saw a resurgence in the interest in solar power and it has seen rapid and exponential growth over the past 10 years.
The rapid deployment of clean energy is primarily led by Solar Energy as last year saw record additions led by rooftop installations & deployment of giga-scale solar farms, especially in UAE & Saudi Arabia. Solar Energy has also seen the largest drop in levelized energy costs since 2010, which played a huge part in nations & developers embracing the technology. This also led to the exponential growth in rooftop solar installations, especially in China & Europe. China's additions dwarfed those of all other countries, crossing 200GW while Europe added approximately 58GW. The US came third with approximately 33GW. Furthermore, the sector also accounted for 60% of all clean energy investments, which totaled about $1.7T in 2023. While activities into solar are set to cool in some European countries, the sector is set to see further growth in 2024, with Asia & the Middle East also being expected to play a bigger role.
