Large-scale photovoltaic solar farms in the Sahara affect solar power generation potential globally

J. Long; Z. Lu; P. A. Miller; J. Pongratz; D. Guan; Benjamin Smith; Z. Zhu; J. Xu; Q. Zhang

doi:10.1038/s43247-023-01117-5

Large-scale photovoltaic solar farms in the Sahara affect solar power generation potential globally

J. Long, Z. Lu, P. A. Miller, J. Pongratz, D. Guan, Benjamin Smith, Z. Zhu, J. Xu, Q. Zhang

Western Sydney University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Globally, solar projects are being rapidly built or planned, particularly in high solar potential regions with high energy demand. However, their energy generation potential is highly related to the weather condition. Here we use state-of-the-art Earth system model simulations to investigate how large photovoltaic solar farms in the Sahara Desert could impact the global cloud cover and solar generation potential through disturbed atmospheric teleconnections. The results indicate negative impacts on solar potential in North Africa (locally), Middle East, Southern Europe, India, Eastern China, Japan, Eastern Australia, and Southwestern US, and positive impacts in Central and South America, the Caribbean, Central & Eastern US, Scandinavia and South Africa, reaching a magnitude of ±5% in remote regions seasonally. Diagnostics suggest that large-scale atmospheric circulation changes are responsible for the global impacts. International cooperation is essential to mitigate the potential risks of future large-scale solar projects in drylands, which could impact energy production.

Original language	English
Article number	11
Number of pages	9
Journal	Communications Earth & Environment
Volume	5
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-01117-5
Publication status	Published - Dec 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024, The Author(s).

Open Access - Access Right Statement

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article�s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article�s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1038/s43247-023-01117-5

Cite this

@article{c97baee9294541f89051d642789f4cf7,

title = "Large-scale photovoltaic solar farms in the Sahara affect solar power generation potential globally",

abstract = "Globally, solar projects are being rapidly built or planned, particularly in high solar potential regions with high energy demand. However, their energy generation potential is highly related to the weather condition. Here we use state-of-the-art Earth system model simulations to investigate how large photovoltaic solar farms in the Sahara Desert could impact the global cloud cover and solar generation potential through disturbed atmospheric teleconnections. The results indicate negative impacts on solar potential in North Africa (locally), Middle East, Southern Europe, India, Eastern China, Japan, Eastern Australia, and Southwestern US, and positive impacts in Central and South America, the Caribbean, Central & Eastern US, Scandinavia and South Africa, reaching a magnitude of ±5% in remote regions seasonally. Diagnostics suggest that large-scale atmospheric circulation changes are responsible for the global impacts. International cooperation is essential to mitigate the potential risks of future large-scale solar projects in drylands, which could impact energy production.",

author = "J. Long and Z. Lu and Miller, {P. A.} and J. Pongratz and D. Guan and Benjamin Smith and Z. Zhu and J. Xu and Q. Zhang",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2024, The Author(s).",

year = "2024",

month = dec,

doi = "10.1038/s43247-023-01117-5",

language = "English",

volume = "5",

journal = "Communications Earth & Environment",

issn = "2662-4435",

publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",

number = "1",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Large-scale photovoltaic solar farms in the Sahara affect solar power generation potential globally

AU - Long, J.

AU - Lu, Z.

AU - Miller, P. A.

AU - Pongratz, J.

AU - Guan, D.

AU - Smith, Benjamin

AU - Zhu, Z.

AU - Xu, J.

AU - Zhang, Q.

PY - 2024/12

Y1 - 2024/12

N2 - Globally, solar projects are being rapidly built or planned, particularly in high solar potential regions with high energy demand. However, their energy generation potential is highly related to the weather condition. Here we use state-of-the-art Earth system model simulations to investigate how large photovoltaic solar farms in the Sahara Desert could impact the global cloud cover and solar generation potential through disturbed atmospheric teleconnections. The results indicate negative impacts on solar potential in North Africa (locally), Middle East, Southern Europe, India, Eastern China, Japan, Eastern Australia, and Southwestern US, and positive impacts in Central and South America, the Caribbean, Central & Eastern US, Scandinavia and South Africa, reaching a magnitude of ±5% in remote regions seasonally. Diagnostics suggest that large-scale atmospheric circulation changes are responsible for the global impacts. International cooperation is essential to mitigate the potential risks of future large-scale solar projects in drylands, which could impact energy production.

AB - Globally, solar projects are being rapidly built or planned, particularly in high solar potential regions with high energy demand. However, their energy generation potential is highly related to the weather condition. Here we use state-of-the-art Earth system model simulations to investigate how large photovoltaic solar farms in the Sahara Desert could impact the global cloud cover and solar generation potential through disturbed atmospheric teleconnections. The results indicate negative impacts on solar potential in North Africa (locally), Middle East, Southern Europe, India, Eastern China, Japan, Eastern Australia, and Southwestern US, and positive impacts in Central and South America, the Caribbean, Central & Eastern US, Scandinavia and South Africa, reaching a magnitude of ±5% in remote regions seasonally. Diagnostics suggest that large-scale atmospheric circulation changes are responsible for the global impacts. International cooperation is essential to mitigate the potential risks of future large-scale solar projects in drylands, which could impact energy production.

UR - https://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:76705

U2 - 10.1038/s43247-023-01117-5

DO - 10.1038/s43247-023-01117-5

M3 - Article

SN - 2662-4435

VL - 5

JO - Communications Earth & Environment

JF - Communications Earth & Environment

IS - 1

M1 - 11

ER -

Large-scale photovoltaic solar farms in the Sahara affect solar power generation potential globally

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Open Access - Access Right Statement

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this