IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v40y2014icp488-496.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Harnessing the Sun: Reviewing the potential of solar photovoltaics in Canada

Author

Listed:
  • Rosenbloom, Daniel
  • Meadowcroft, James

Abstract

Over the past decade, a number of jurisdictions have taken significant steps to encourage the diffusion of solar photovoltaic technology (PV). Supportive policy frameworks have been widely adopted, spurring deployment and driving down the cost of PV components. The increased competitiveness of this technology presents a promising opportunity for meeting energy needs in a low-carbon fashion. Indeed, a growing body of research suggests that PV could produce significant quantities of energy. However, the diffusion of PV in Canada has been comparatively slow and GHG emissions in this jurisdiction are on an upward trajectory. As a result, we explore the potential of PV in Canada in regards to: (1) the scale of possible contributions to energy supply and GHG abatement, and (2) the particular functional roles and niches this technology could occupy looking out to 2050. In doing so, this study reviews the current status of knowledge on PV potential in Canada and argues that estimates which revolve around technical parameters such as solar irradiance, module efficiency, and land area (and even those that include some reference to current prices), are limited in their ability to understand the place this technology might actually occupy in Canada in coming decades. While technical potential is an important consideration, the interrelated economic, socio-political, and environmental influences need to be taken into account. This paper discusses the nature of these influences and explores PV potential in the context of key features of possible low-carbon pathways for Canada.

Suggested Citation

  • Rosenbloom, Daniel & Meadowcroft, James, 2014. "Harnessing the Sun: Reviewing the potential of solar photovoltaics in Canada," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 488-496.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:40:y:2014:i:c:p:488-496
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2014.07.135
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032114005875
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2014.07.135?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Solangi, K.H. & Islam, M.R. & Saidur, R. & Rahim, N.A. & Fayaz, H., 2011. "A review on global solar energy policy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 2149-2163, May.
    2. Strzalka, Aneta & Alam, Nazmul & Duminil, Eric & Coors, Volker & Eicker, Ursula, 2012. "Large scale integration of photovoltaics in cities," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 413-421.
    3. Geels, Frank W. & Schot, Johan, 2007. "Typology of sociotechnical transition pathways," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 399-417, April.
    4. Seel, Joachim & Barbose, Galen L. & Wiser, Ryan H., 2014. "An analysis of residential PV system price differences between the United States and Germany," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 216-226.
    5. Milbrandt, Anelia R. & Heimiller, Donna M. & Perry, Andrew D. & Field, Christopher B., 2014. "Renewable energy potential on marginal lands in the United States," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 473-481.
    6. Ruiz-Arias, J.A. & Terrados, J. & Pérez-Higueras, P. & Pozo-Vázquez, D. & Almonacid, G., 2012. "Assessment of the renewable energies potential for intensive electricity production in the province of Jaén, southern Spain," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 2994-3001.
    7. Rowlands, Ian H. & Kemery, Briana Paige & Beausoleil-Morrison, Ian, 2014. "Managing solar-PV variability with geographical dispersion: An Ontario (Canada) case-study," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 171-180.
    8. Barnham, Keith & Knorr, Kaspar & Mazzer, Massimo, 2013. "Benefits of photovoltaic power in supplying national electricity demand," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 385-390.
    9. Bazilian, Morgan & Onyeji, Ijeoma & Liebreich, Michael & MacGill, Ian & Chase, Jennifer & Shah, Jigar & Gielen, Dolf & Arent, Doug & Landfear, Doug & Zhengrong, Shi, 2013. "Re-considering the economics of photovoltaic power," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 329-338.
    10. Nugent, Daniel & Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2014. "Assessing the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions from solar PV and wind energy: A critical meta-survey," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 229-244.
    11. Foxon, Timothy J., 2013. "Transition pathways for a UK low carbon electricity future," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 10-24.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zhang, Guangchao & Lv, Kai & Xie, Yudong & Wang, Yong & Shan, Kunshan, 2023. "Performance study of a control valve with energy harvesting based on a modified passive model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    2. Lv, Kai & Xie, Yudong & Wang, Yong & Sun, Guang, 2021. "Performance investigations of a control valve with the function of energy harvesting," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    3. Jiyun, Du & Hongxing, Yang & Zhicheng, Shen & Xiaodong, Guo, 2018. "Development of an inline vertical cross-flow turbine for hydropower harvesting in urban water supply pipes," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 386-397.
    4. Donaldson, Ross & Lord, Richard, 2018. "Can brownfield land be reused for ground source heating to alleviate fuel poverty?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 116(PA), pages 344-355.
    5. Cheng, Liang & Zhang, Fangli & Li, Shuyi & Mao, Junya & Xu, Hao & Ju, Weimin & Liu, Xiaoqiang & Wu, Jie & Min, Kaifu & Zhang, Xuedong & Li, Manchun, 2020. "Solar energy potential of urban buildings in 10 cities of China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    6. Antonio Barragán-Escandón & Julio Terrados-Cepeda & Esteban Zalamea-León, 2017. "The Role of Renewable Energy in the Promotion of Circular Urban Metabolism," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-29, December.
    7. Azizkhani, Mostafa & Vakili, Abdullah & Noorollahi, Younes & Naseri, Farzin, 2017. "Potential survey of photovoltaic power plants using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method in Iran," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 1198-1206.
    8. Cuce, Erdem & Harjunowibowo, Dewanto & Cuce, Pinar Mert, 2016. "Renewable and sustainable energy saving strategies for greenhouse systems: A comprehensive review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 34-59.
    9. Kai Lv & Yudong Xie & Xinbiao Zhang & Yong Wang, 2020. "Development of Savonius Rotors Integrated into Control Valves for Energy Harvesting," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-19, October.
    10. Rosenbloom, Daniel & Berton, Harris & Meadowcroft, James, 2016. "Framing the sun: A discursive approach to understanding multi-dimensional interactions within socio-technical transitions through the case of solar electricity in Ontario, Canada," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(6), pages 1275-1290.
    11. Du, Jiyun & Shen, Zhicheng & Yang, Hongxing, 2018. "Effects of different block designs on the performance of inline cross-flow turbines in urban water mains," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 97-107.
    12. Nandal, Vinod & Kumar, Raj & Singh, S.K., 2019. "Barriers identification and analysis of solar power implementation in Indian thermal power plants: An Interpretative Structural Modeling approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 1-1.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wu, Qiyan & Zhang, Xiaoling & Sun, Jingwei & Ma, Zhifei & Zhou, Chen, 2016. "Locked post-fossil consumption of urban decentralized solar photovoltaic energy: A case study of an on-grid photovoltaic power supply community in Nanjing, China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 1-11.
    2. Lang, Tillmann & Gloerfeld, Erik & Girod, Bastien, 2015. "Don׳t just follow the sun – A global assessment of economic performance for residential building photovoltaics," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 932-951.
    3. Wadhawan, Siddharth R. & Pearce, Joshua M., 2017. "Power and energy potential of mass-scale photovoltaic noise barrier deployment: A case study for the U.S," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 125-132.
    4. Briguglio, Marie & Formosa, Glenn, 2017. "When households go solar: Determinants of uptake of a Photovoltaic Scheme and policy insights," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 154-162.
    5. Moon, Yongma & Baran, Mesut, 2018. "Economic analysis of a residential PV system from the timing perspective: A real option model," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 783-795.
    6. Andersen, Allan Dahl & Markard, Jochen, 2020. "Multi-technology interaction in socio-technical transitions: How recent dynamics in HVDC technology can inform transition theories," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    7. Hong, Taehoon & Lee, Minhyun & Koo, Choongwan & Jeong, Kwangbok & Kim, Jimin, 2017. "Development of a method for estimating the rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) potential by analyzing the available rooftop area using Hillshade analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 320-332.
    8. Fjalar J. De Haan & Briony C. Rogers, 2019. "The Multi-Pattern Approach for Systematic Analysis of Transition Pathways," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-30, January.
    9. Jano-Ito, Marco A. & Crawford-Brown, Douglas, 2016. "Socio-technical analysis of the electricity sector of Mexico: Its historical evolution and implications for a transition towards low-carbon development," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 567-590.
    10. Kenneth Gillingham, Hao Deng, Ryan Wiser, Naim Darghouth, Gregory Nemet, Galen Barbose, Varun Rai, and Changgui Dong, 2016. "Deconstructing Solar Photovoltaic Pricing," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 3).
    11. Barton, John & Davies, Lloyd & Dooley, Ben & Foxon, Timothy J. & Galloway, Stuart & Hammond, Geoffrey P. & O’Grady, Áine & Robertson, Elizabeth & Thomson, Murray, 2018. "Transition pathways for a UK low-carbon electricity system: Comparing scenarios and technology implications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 2779-2790.
    12. Matthew, George Jr. & Nuttall, William J. & Mestel, Ben & Dooley, Laurence S., 2019. "Low carbon futures: Confronting electricity challenges on island systems," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 36-50.
    13. Rosenbloom, Daniel & Berton, Harris & Meadowcroft, James, 2016. "Framing the sun: A discursive approach to understanding multi-dimensional interactions within socio-technical transitions through the case of solar electricity in Ontario, Canada," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(6), pages 1275-1290.
    14. Johanna Leväsluoto & Johanna Kohl & Anton Sigfrids & Jussi Pihlajamäki & Janne Martikainen, 2021. "Digitalization as an Engine for Change? Building a Vision Pathway towards a Sustainable Health Care System by Using the MLP and Health Economic Decision Modelling," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-24, November.
    15. Jones, Christopher & Gilbert, Paul & Raugei, Marco & Mander, Sarah & Leccisi, Enrica, 2017. "An approach to prospective consequential life cycle assessment and net energy analysis of distributed electricity generation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 350-358.
    16. Ferreira, Agmar & Kunh, Sheila S. & Fagnani, Kátia C. & De Souza, Tiago A. & Tonezer, Camila & Dos Santos, Geocris Rodrigues & Coimbra-Araújo, Carlos H., 2018. "Economic overview of the use and production of photovoltaic solar energy in brazil," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P1), pages 181-191.
    17. Choi, Hyundo & Anadón, Laura Díaz, 2014. "The role of the complementary sector and its relationship with network formation and government policies in emerging sectors: The case of solar photovoltaics between 2001 and 2009," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 80-94.
    18. Strunz, Sebastian, 2014. "The German energy transition as a regime shift," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 150-158.
    19. Oliva H., Sebastian, 2017. "Residential energy efficiency and distributed generation - Natural partners or competition?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 932-940.
    20. Jia, Teng & Dai, Yanjun & Wang, Ruzhu, 2018. "Refining energy sources in winemaking industry by using solar energy as alternatives for fossil fuels: A review and perspective," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 278-296.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:40:y:2014:i:c:p:488-496. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.