From Guest Blogger Siva Thangarajah: Is It Possible to Power the World with Solar?

Solar power is one of our most promising renewable energy resources, as it is one of our most ubiquitous. Countries like China and Japan have been leading the way , with the former exceeding its 2020 solar panel installations targets in 2015.

However, despite the leaps and bounds in solar technology, it has always lagged behind biofuel and geothermal energy.  Iceland for instance, is powered entirely by renewable energy: but largely by hydrofuel and geothermal. So we know that it’s possible to fuel entire countries with natural resources.

But is possible to power the world using solar panels? And if not, why?

Can we power the world using solar power?

finder.com, a price comparison site, calculated how much land 141 countries in the world need to be covered in solar panels to entirely power the whole country.

The research takes into account the average efficiency of solar panels, and levels of sunlight in each country, so this global map shows how realistic it would be to power countries  around the world taking into account the state of technology as it stands today.

How viable is solar power?

Putting aside more practical issues of infrastructures and budget, the viability of solar depends on population density, and the amount of sunlight.

Depending on these factors, it is more realistic for some countries than others: factoring in how much yearly sun they get from (taken from  OpenSolarDB),  and total energy usage, taken from CIA World Factbook.

The results? Finder found that 87% of the countries could power themselves using less than 5% of their land.

It’s easier for larger countries with low population densities to be entirely powered with solar panels.

5% of land in a country may not seem like much. However, finding at least 5% of spare land is easier for bigger countries like the USA and Canada. The US for instance can meets its energy demands using only 1.4% of the country covered in panels – the size of a small state like Mississippi.

However, because the panels would need to be distributed throughout the country, there needs to be governmental strategy on both a state and national level in order to build infrastructure. But these results show that it is possible.

The maps also shows population density and land available can make a large difference, to make up for a lack of sunlight. Canada is a great example. Although the country is not tropical, because it has a very low population density and is the second largest country in the world, it can entirely meet its energy demands with only solar power using only 0.3% of land.

This is not wholly unrealistic – considering over 80% of Canadian land is uninhabited, finding space for solar panels should not be a problem.

Small , tropical nations also have a good chance of being powered by solar

Interestingly, developing countries with small populations and a large amount of sun also need less solar panels to meet their energy demands. Thailand, for instance can power themselves using only 2.1% of their land.

Small African states situated around the equator (hence very high levels of sunlight!) with low energy consumptions have the best chance of being powered fully by the sun. Botswana for example, only needs 80km of solar panels.

With such a small amount of solar panels, small, developing nations like Botswana, solar panels can be a cheaper, sustainable source of power. Why?

Cost of solar panels has been falling

Because as solar power becomes more popular (with countries like China and Japan investing in it) the cost of manufacturing solar cells has been falling. Now, it costs around $0.80 (£0.55) per watt.

This means despite the initial cost of installing the technology, they will be cheaper in the long run than importing oil or petroleum.

Case in point: Bangladesh, which has a high poverty rate has over 3.3 households powered by solar panels.

And with the price of solar panels dropping even more, it seems that with proper funding and an infrastructure planned and executed properly, there is no reason why solar panels cannot be the future.