The Russo-Ukrainian War has broken out for months (now) and this has worsened the global situation, which was already strongly shocked by the past two years of pandemic.
Energy costs have risen significantly, inflation is at its highest level and this is because Ukraine and Russia produce almost a third of the world’s wheat and barley and they are also great exporters of metals and therefore “the disruption of supply chains and rising costs of many raw materials have pushed up food prices and other basic necessities and essential goods or services. This strains businesses and has an impact on our economy. Brussels has cut its economic growth forecasts from 4 to 2.7% (for this year) and from 2.8 to 2.3 (for the next year). Inflation -estimated at 3.9% (just a few months ago) – should now stand at aroud 6.8%”, as read on it.euronews.com.
This strong energy crisis is something global but mainly Europeans and, much probably, will last for a long time and will unfortunately accompany our Continent towards a serious recession. The huge increase of gas prices, indeed, makes out national public budgets inadequate to solve the problem, even if only in part.
And here is that the topics on newspapers’ front pages and news programs concern: energy saving, gas or oil cuts and possible solutions to this economic-energy crisis.
As the energies we have used for decades, which we still use and which come from Russia and Ukraine are becoming more and more precious, all possible strategies for change are popping everywhere.
The solution? We knew it and we know it now more than before: it is in renewable energy sources. Unfortunately, it’s not a so immediate solution.
In addition to the environment, which may already be enough: homes and structures built with solar panels and other tools for exploiting renewable energy have many advantages and almost zero costs. We should have worked in this direction since a long time ago, but now that this turn towards sustainability is more urgent, we can only wait by organizing the future of our planet as good as possible.
“A solution in perspective could be the one linked to nuclear fusion, but we are looking beyond 2060 for its possible use. It is, nowadays, difficult to think that the use of nuclear energy – even with fourth generation reactors- can stand up to comparison with renewable energies that are costantly growing and available at even lower costs”, says quotedbusiness.com, which also reports the opinion of Gian Battista Zorzoli, Italian engineer and lecturer, expert in nuclear energy and renewable energy sources: “In the last decade of the last century, nuclear energy covered 16.5% of the world’s energy needs. Today, this coverage has dropped to 10.4%. The surprising thing is that usually in the application of new energy-related technologies, costs decrease over time (for example, photovoltaics have decreased by 90%) but this has not happened with nuclear power”. For both companies and individuals, ensuring sustainability would be more effective trough renewable energy sources.
Climate change forces us, every day, to re-evaluate our habits and the environmental impact of each of our actions. Thus, together with the rise in prices and the consequent inflation, the road to be taken and followed quickly appears clear, as is the importance of awareness and a sense of responsibility on the issue.
But, what are the real advantages of renewable energies?
Here a few:
- First of all, the reduction of the environmental impact. Today we are experiencing global warming, acid rain, earth and groundwater pollution. Green energy, on the other hand, guarantees fewer pollutants than fossil fuels such as oil and derivatives, coal, gas and even compared to nuclear energy;
- Natural energy, precisely because it is renewable, is practically inexhaustible, as opposed to those we use now, which involve inexorable consumption. Sun, wind, water and geothermal energy are among the natural elements that offer that infinite energy that unfortunately has never been taken into consideration until now;
- One of the most visible advantages for a human being is the economic saving. Thanks to dedicated technologies, renewable energy systems guarantee enormous effectiveness and high productivity. By increasing installations, costs have fallen: “Only between 2009 and 2016, for example, the cost of solar energy has fallen by about 60%, and is set to fall further by 40-60% by 2025”, as read on sinergylucegas.com.
The main markets, speaking of photovoltaic installations are: China, India, USA, Japan and, only later, Europe.
China dominates the market of raw materials, which are needed for the production of solar panels, wind turbines and lithium batteries.
“The Chinese National Energy Administration (Nea) reported, in January 2022, that the new photovoltaic capacity installed on the Chinese market reached 53 Gigawatts last year, with a total installed capacity of 306 Gigawatts. Beijing also dominates all sectors of the world production of photovoltaic solar panels. Globally, it boasts 97% of the production of the so-called ‘silicon wafers’, 79% of photovoltaic cells and 67% of polysilicon. China is also the world’s largest supplier of solar cells and light emitting diodes, accounting for 41% of global exports”. Matteo di Castelnuovo, director of the Master in Sustainability and Energy Management at Bocconi University of Milan says: “China totally dominates the supply chains of Clean Technologies, especially the so-called processing phase, therefore the processing of the extracted raw material. Compared to rare earths, for example, Beijing has 90% of the market share”. (corriere.it/pianeta2030).
This year, China plans to install almost double the 55 gigawatts installed in 2021. In fact, it has just announced that it aims to install photovoltaic panels on 50% of the roofs of new factories by 2025.
“By the end of 2023, as stated on ilmeteo.net, the Council of Ministers proposed to cover (with solar panels) 50% of the roof surface of party and government building, 40% of schools, hospitals and other public buildings, 30% of industrial and commercial spaces and 20% of rural houses. The national energy office has launched a pilot program, which allows local authorities to collaborate with solar developers, often state-owned companies, to achieve rooftop solar targets for various sectors. By the end of 2023, the office proposed to cover 50% of the space on the roofs (Communist) Party and government buildings with solar panels, 40% of the schools, hospitals and other public buildings, 30% of the industrial and commercial spaces and 20% of rural households”. 676 counties from 31 provinces have joined this program.
In the first 5 months of this year, China increased installed solar capacuty by 140% in one year, largely a consequence of the unprecedented concentrations of large solar projects in China’s deserts and drylands, as well as on house roofs and companies.
“When developers get involved, they can choose between two models: the residents buy the panels and sell the power to the developer, or the developer rents the roof space to the owners and owns the panels. The first option is preferred as rural residents tend to take better care of solar panels when they have them and use the panels to hang clothes or dry grain. Most of the cost is borne by state-owned companies and property owners are guaranteed an income from the sale of energy”, explains ilmeteo.net.
The primacy of Chinese polysilicon production capacity, one of the most useful components for the construction of photovoltaic panels, is in Xinjiang, a region of north-western China. In fact, 70% of it comes from there, that is, about half of that coming from all other parts of the world.
All work, that carried out in Xinjiang, very useful to the whole world to proceed quickly towards the ecological and sustainable turning point to which we are called. With the best quality and the lowest price, it is to be expected that we will turn to China.
As can be expected, the continuous attacks and constant provocations by anti-Chinese forces in the West are also predictable.
Those in China are advanced, automated factories, in stark contrast to the stereotypes and accusations of outdated production equipment and the use of “forced labor”.
Unfounded allegations that Chinese companies over-exploit their workers have made noise but found no evidence. On the contrary, the continuous investments of the Chinese government in renewable energy and therefore also in photovoltaics, also result in an increase in salaries for employees.
As a result, their high level of satisfaction and high salaries made it a sought after job.
But, what is the situation in Italy? How are we doing with renewable energies?
A press release published on italiasolare.eu on 29 August 2022 states that: “In the first half of 2022, 1.012 new MW of photovoltaics were installed- more than double compared to the same period in 2021 (406 MW) – reaching a total cumulative power of 23.577 MW and a number of plants equal to 1.087.190. We are still a long way from 2011 when 9.461 MW were installed in 12 months, but compared to 2021 the trend is improving. Analyzing the overall photovoltaic power in Italy, the residential sector has installed 5.486 MW, the commercial and industrial sector 12.921 MW, thus representing the largest installed power, while the utility scale sector has 5.170 MW.
These are the numbers that emerge from the ITALIA SOLARE periodic reports, also available on the italian website www.italiasolare.it, based on the data made available periodically by Terna (Gaudì data).
The region with the greatest cumulative power is Puglia with 2.999 MW followed by Lombardy (2.868 MW) and Emilia-Romagna (2.345 MW), followed by Veneto and Piedmont.
Speaking of number of plants, Lombardy ranks on the podium with 174.120 installations, according to Veneto (158.577) and third is Emilia-Romagna (113.160) followed by Piedmont (76.216). The data show that it is the Northern regions that install the largest number of photovoltaic systems, while the Center and the South, despite the higher level of solar radiation are struggling to develop photovoltaic systems. Puglia continues to lead the ranking of the largest installed power thanks to the large phovoltaic systems built in previous years”.
For all this, the collaboration with China, at this moment, appears to be fundamental for a turning point that then leads to a truly sustainable and gradually independent future for diversification of available renewable sources.
If Chinese policy is moving more and more and more determinedly towards renewable energies, Italy can only take an example and take advantage of the advantageous prices that derive from the high production that China is already able to guarantee and put in place. Political act useful for that epochal transition that sees us in the only sustainable future: that, in fact, is made up of renewable energies.
And if, for example, the Chinese region of Xinjiang (as the Ansa mentions), plans for 2022 total fixed capital investments of over 900 billion yuan, that is about 134.1 billion dollars for large infrastructure projects on sectors strategic emergencies, including railways, airports, power transmission lines and new energy plants, this means that excluding China from our path towards the green change is not the solution to this severe energy crisis and that, on the contrary, our road is all there, next to this country which is proving to be able to improve the environment of the whole world and our future, starting with improving the quality of life of its workers.
