Perspective on industrial electrification and utility scale PV in the Arctic region
Two concurrent trends may fundamentally change how we understand the role of solar PV at high latitudes. Until now, relatively low annual insolation in combination with low electricity demand during the summer months has not favoured PV in the Arctic. However, continued decreases in costs for PVs in...
Published in: | International Journal of Sustainable Energy Planning and Management |
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.54337/ijsepm.8180 https://doaj.org/article/c408bedcbdf047e987e0046cf9a0fa86 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:c408bedcbdf047e987e0046cf9a0fa86 2024-09-09T19:20:59+00:00 Perspective on industrial electrification and utility scale PV in the Arctic region Anton Asplund Lars J. Nilsson 2024-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.54337/ijsepm.8180 https://doaj.org/article/c408bedcbdf047e987e0046cf9a0fa86 EN eng Aalborg University Open Publishing https://130.225.53.24/index.php/sepm/article/view/8180 https://doaj.org/toc/2246-2929 doi:10.54337/ijsepm.8180 2246-2929 https://doaj.org/article/c408bedcbdf047e987e0046cf9a0fa86 International Journal of Sustainable Energy Planning and Management, Vol 41 (2024) Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) TA1-2040 Social sciences (General) H1-99 article 2024 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.54337/ijsepm.8180 2024-08-05T17:48:55Z Two concurrent trends may fundamentally change how we understand the role of solar PV at high latitudes. Until now, relatively low annual insolation in combination with low electricity demand during the summer months has not favoured PV in the Arctic. However, continued decreases in costs for PVs in combination with increasing electricity demand from industrial electrification is quickly changing the situation. Net-zero climate targets necessitates industrial decarbonisation and low-cost electricity from solar and wind facilitates emission reductions through electrification and hydrogen. While research on PV in the Arctic so far has focused on off-grid and community scale systems, in this perspective article we explore the prospects for utility scale PV in Northern Scandinavia. Research usually identifies regions endowed with rich sun and wind resources at lower latitudes as promising locations for electricity intensive industries. We calculate the levelized-cost-of-electricity for utility scale PV to be 51 EUR/MWh based on recent data and this cost is likely to be below 35 EUR/MWh before 2030 considering the projected continued reduction of the levelized cost of electricity for PV. This makes utility scale PV a highly viable future option to complement wind and hydro in meeting the very large forecasted future electricity demands from the steel industry, data centres, and power-to-X production above the Arctic circle from 2030 and onwards. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic International Journal of Sustainable Energy Planning and Management 41 34 44 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) TA1-2040 Social sciences (General) H1-99 |
spellingShingle |
Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) TA1-2040 Social sciences (General) H1-99 Anton Asplund Lars J. Nilsson Perspective on industrial electrification and utility scale PV in the Arctic region |
topic_facet |
Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) TA1-2040 Social sciences (General) H1-99 |
description |
Two concurrent trends may fundamentally change how we understand the role of solar PV at high latitudes. Until now, relatively low annual insolation in combination with low electricity demand during the summer months has not favoured PV in the Arctic. However, continued decreases in costs for PVs in combination with increasing electricity demand from industrial electrification is quickly changing the situation. Net-zero climate targets necessitates industrial decarbonisation and low-cost electricity from solar and wind facilitates emission reductions through electrification and hydrogen. While research on PV in the Arctic so far has focused on off-grid and community scale systems, in this perspective article we explore the prospects for utility scale PV in Northern Scandinavia. Research usually identifies regions endowed with rich sun and wind resources at lower latitudes as promising locations for electricity intensive industries. We calculate the levelized-cost-of-electricity for utility scale PV to be 51 EUR/MWh based on recent data and this cost is likely to be below 35 EUR/MWh before 2030 considering the projected continued reduction of the levelized cost of electricity for PV. This makes utility scale PV a highly viable future option to complement wind and hydro in meeting the very large forecasted future electricity demands from the steel industry, data centres, and power-to-X production above the Arctic circle from 2030 and onwards. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Anton Asplund Lars J. Nilsson |
author_facet |
Anton Asplund Lars J. Nilsson |
author_sort |
Anton Asplund |
title |
Perspective on industrial electrification and utility scale PV in the Arctic region |
title_short |
Perspective on industrial electrification and utility scale PV in the Arctic region |
title_full |
Perspective on industrial electrification and utility scale PV in the Arctic region |
title_fullStr |
Perspective on industrial electrification and utility scale PV in the Arctic region |
title_full_unstemmed |
Perspective on industrial electrification and utility scale PV in the Arctic region |
title_sort |
perspective on industrial electrification and utility scale pv in the arctic region |
publisher |
Aalborg University Open Publishing |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.54337/ijsepm.8180 https://doaj.org/article/c408bedcbdf047e987e0046cf9a0fa86 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
International Journal of Sustainable Energy Planning and Management, Vol 41 (2024) |
op_relation |
https://130.225.53.24/index.php/sepm/article/view/8180 https://doaj.org/toc/2246-2929 doi:10.54337/ijsepm.8180 2246-2929 https://doaj.org/article/c408bedcbdf047e987e0046cf9a0fa86 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.54337/ijsepm.8180 |
container_title |
International Journal of Sustainable Energy Planning and Management |
container_volume |
41 |
container_start_page |
34 |
op_container_end_page |
44 |
_version_ |
1809761160022458368 |