"Even considering only the existing technologies, Renewable Energy Sources could contribute 50 per cent of the primary energy demand in the Mediterranean basin"The European Union (EU) is already aware of the huge potential that solar photovoltaics could play throughout Europe as a result of a 450-page report delivered last year.34 In 1990, the area of rooftops on houses, industrial buildings and offices which could be used to produce grid-connected solar electricity was 3,596km2.
This huge solar potential amounts to installing an average of only 9.5 square metres of solar panels per person in Europe. The total capacity resulting would be 450,000MW, providing 16.3 per cent of Europe's electricity needs in 1990 (360 million MWh/annum, about 1,000 kWh/annum per person). In 2010, the total potential is 618,000MW (500 million MWh/annum). Yet the cumulative total of photovoltaics installed in Europe in 1994 was approximately 70MW.
Despite the analysis of the potential resource, recommendations to the EU has failed to highlight the potential of photovoltaic power stations - it is viewed as a distant option for beyond 2010:
"In the longer term, multi-megawatt power plants will be a viable option for large scale electricity generation in southern European states". 35
The report's recommendations for the EU are for a proposed programme of 50MWp, throughout Europe, including only 100MWp for large scale power plants.
Greenpeace's campaign in Crete to construct a 50MW solar power station would realise 50 per cent of the large power plants at a single stroke.
Photovoltaics and jobs
The employment benefits from the growth of the PV industry are significant. In Europe, high growth rates of the photovoltaic market could result in the creation of up to 294,000 jobs by 2010. Entirely new jobs are created which are well distributed over regions. The jobs are continuous and non-seasonal and develop in those areas which most need economic stimulation.
The US Department of Environment (DOE) says: "Photovoltaics is a high technology that , as a domestic industry, could create or support as many as 3,800 well-paying jobs for every $100 million worth of PV sales" .36
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