Scientists mapped all large solar plants on Earth
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Solar plants on Earth
Recently, scientists at the University of Oxford in the UK created the first global list of large solar energy generating plants. “Large” in this case refers to solar plants that generate at least 10 kilowatts when the Sun is at its peak. They used artificial intelligence to detect such solar plants all over the world from images that satellites took of Earth. In total, they detected 68,661 solar facilities.
Moreover, in the study, they found that solar power plants are most often in farm areas, and also grasslands and deserts. These solar plants they found ranged in different sizes – from large solar farms to rooftop installations.
What they found from this list has been very encouraging. According to their calculations, humans’ solar energy generating capacity grew by a remarkable 81% between 2016 and 2018. This growth was especially remarkable in India (184%), Turkey (143%), China (120%) and Japan (119%).
The good news
This study is a piece of good news in our world where we are currently fighting climate change and trying to stop the use of fossil fuel. Solar energy is renewable and eco-friendly.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) says that our solar generating capacity must grow ten times more by 2040. This is if we are to fight global poverty and also keep global temperatures well below 2°C. And what the scientists have found in the latest study is that the world’s solar energy generating facilities as growing enough for us to reach IEA’s goals.
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