Investment in concentrating solar power (CSP) this year will exceed 2 billion euros and could be worth 20.8 billion euros – creating around 90,000 jobs worldwide – according to a new report from Greenpeace, the European Solar Thermal Electricity Association (ESTELA) and IEA SolarPACES.
The report, Global CSP Outlook 2009, also outlines how – under an advanced industry development scenario – CSP could meet up to 7% of the world's projected power needs in 2030 and a full quarter by 2050.
‘Solar power plants are the next big thing in renewable energy,’ says Sven Teske, renewable energy director at Greenpeace International and co-author of the report. ‘After the wind industry took off in the mid 1990s and the solar photovoltaic technology started its boom about five years ago, CSP is now the third multibillion-dollar industry for clean power generation.’
Global CSP Outlook 2009 is based on a reference scenario (‘business as usual’ scenario) for world governments, as well as moderate and advanced scenarios based on realistic policies to support development.
According to the report, under just a moderate scenario, the countries with the most solar resources could create 11.1 billion euros of investment in 2010, peaking at 92.5 billion euros in 2050; create more than 200,000 jobs by 2020, and about 1.187 million in 2050; and save 148 million tons of CO2 annually until 2020, rising to 2.1 billion tons in 2050.
To download the complete report, click here.
