-
Pollution from coal-fired power plants that blocks sunlight is significantly cutting global solar output, and potentially causing an overestimation of climate progress.
-
Aerosols – tiny particles released from the burning of fossil fuels as well as natural sources like volcanoes – reduced global solar generation by 5.8 per cent in 2023, according to the study.
-
In China, the world’s largest producer of solar power and coal, aerosols slashed photovoltaic output by 7.7 per cent, with scientists attributing nearly a third of the decline to coal-fired power plants. Aerosols also cut solar output in India, the US and Japan.
-
"Given the slow pace of global coal phase-out, these results reveal a constraint on solar performance that, if unaccounted for, could lead to a systematic overestimation of the transition’s contribution to climate and air quality goals," the study concludes.
Here is the study: Coal plants persist as a large barrier to the global solar energy transition (pdf)
...
Between 2017 and 2023, new PV installations added an average of 246.6 TWh of electricity each year, while aerosol-related losses from existing systems reached 74.0 TWh annually - equivalent to nearly one-third of the gains from new capacity. This highlights a previously unrecognised interaction between fossil fuel use and renewable energy, where emissions from one system directly reduce the performance of the other.
...
This effect is particularly evident in China, where solar and coal capacity have expanded in parallel and are often co-located. Regions with high coal capacity aligned closely with areas experiencing the greatest solar PV losses.
...
China is the world’s largest solar producer, and generated 793.5 TWh of solar PV electricity in 2023 (41.5% of the global total). But it also experienced the largest losses from aerosols, with total output reduced by 7.7%. The researchers estimate that around 29% of aerosol-related solar PV losses in China come specifically from coal-fired power plants. Coal plants emit fine pollution particles that scatter and absorb sunlight, reducing the amount that reaches nearby solar panels. As a result, the panels generate less electricity than they otherwise could.
...
