Timilsina, Govinda R.Kurdgelashvili, LadoNarbel, Patrick A.2012-03-192012-03-192011-10-01https://hdl.handle.net/10986/3612Solar energy has experienced phenomenal growth in recent years due to both technological improvements resulting in cost reductions and government policies supportive of renewable energy development and utilization. This study analyzes the technical, economic and policy aspects of solar energy development and deployment. While the cost of solar energy has declined rapidly in the recent past, it still remains much higher than the cost of conventional energy technologies. Like other renewable energy technologies, solar energy benefits from fiscal and regulatory incentives and mandates, including tax credits and exemptions, feed-in-tariff, preferential interest rates, renewable portfolio standards and voluntary green power programs in many countries. Potential expansion of carbon credit markets also would provide additional incentives to solar energy deployment; however, the scale of incentives provided by the existing carbon market instruments, such as the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol, is limited. Despite the huge technical potential, development and large-scale, market-driven deployment of solar energy technologies world-wide still has to overcome a number of technical and financial barriers. Unless these barriers are overcome, maintaining and increasing electricity supplies from solar energy will require continuation of potentially costly policy supports.CC BY 3.0 IGOAIRAIR POLLUTIONAMORPHOUS SILICONAPPROACHAVAILABILITYBALANCEBATTERIESBIOGASBIOMASSBUILDING MATERIALSCADMIUMCAPACITY FACTORCAPACITY FACTORSCAPACITY OF HEATCAPACITY UTILIZATIONCARBONCARBON CAPTURECARBON CREDITSCARBON FINANCECARBON INTENSITYCARBON MARKETCARBON TAXCLEAN ENERGYCLIMATECLIMATE CHANGECLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATIONCO2COALCOGENERATIONCONSTRUCTION COSTCONVENTIONAL ENERGYCONVENTIONAL FUELSCOOLING SYSTEMSCOPPERCOST OF ELECTRICITYCOSTS OF ELECTRICITYCOSTS OF EMISSIONSDESERTSDIESELDIFFUSIONDISTRIBUTION SYSTEMSEFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENTSELECTRIC GENERATIONELECTRIC POWERELECTRIC UTILITIESELECTRIC UTILITYELECTRICITYELECTRICITY CONSUMPTIONELECTRICITY DEMANDELECTRICITY GENERATIONELECTRICITY GENERATION CAPACITYELECTRICITY GENERATION TECHNOLOGIESELECTRICITY PRODUCTIONELECTRICITY SALESELECTRICITY SUPPLYELECTRICITY UTILITIESELECTRIFICATIONEMISSIONEMISSION REDUCTIONEMISSION REDUCTION TARGETSEMISSION REDUCTIONSEMISSIONSENERGY ECONOMICSENERGY EFFICIENCYENERGY EFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENTSENERGY INDUSTRYENERGY MARKETSENERGY MIXENERGY OUTLOOKENERGY POLICIESENERGY POLICYENERGY RESOURCESENERGY SOURCESENERGY SYSTEMSENERGY TECHNOLOGYENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITSENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGEENVIRONMENTAL EXTERNALITIESENVIRONMENTAL POLICYEXCESS ELECTRICITYFOSSILFOSSIL ENERGYFOSSIL FUELFOSSIL FUEL PRICESFOSSIL FUELSFUEL CELLSFUEL COSTFUEL COSTSFUEL PRICEGAS TURBINEGENERATING CAPACITYGHGGLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGEGLOBAL ENERGY DEMANDGLOBAL ENERGY SUPPLYGLOBAL WARMINGGREEN POWERGREEN POWER PROGRAMSGREENHOUSEGREENHOUSE GASGREENHOUSE GAS MITIGATIONGRID APPLICATIONSGRID POWERGRID SYSTEMSHEATHEAT TRANSFERHEATING SYSTEMSHOT WATERHYDROGENHYDROPOWERIPCCKILOWATT-HOURKILOWATT-HOUR OF ELECTRICITYLANDFILLLANDFILL GASLOW-CARBONNATURAL GASNATURAL GAS PRICENUCLEAR PLANTSNUCLEAR POWERNUCLEAR POWER PLANTSOILOIL EQUIVALENTOIL PRICESPEAK GENERATIONPEAK LOADSPHOTOVOLTAIC MARKETSPOWER GENERATIONPOWER GENERATION CAPACITYPOWER GENERATION TECHNOLOGIESPOWER GRIDPOWER INDUSTRYPOWER PLANTPOWER PLANTSPOWER PRODUCTIONPOWER PROJECTPOWER PURCHASE AGREEMENTSPOWER SECTORPOWER SUPPLYPOWER SYSTEMPOWER SYSTEMSPRIMARY ENERGYPRIMARY ENERGY CONSUMPTIONPRIMARY ENERGY DEMANDPRIMARY ENERGY SUPPLYPRODUCTION OF ELECTRICITYPUBLIC UTILITIESRAW MATERIALSRENEWABLE ELECTRICITYRENEWABLE ENERGYRENEWABLE ENERGY DEVELOPMENTRENEWABLE ENERGY FACILITIESRENEWABLE ENERGY GENERATORSRENEWABLE ENERGY PORTFOLIO STANDARDSRENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECTSRENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCESRENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCESRENEWABLE ENERGY SUPPLYRENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMSRENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIESRENEWABLE PORTFOLIO STANDARDSRENEWABLE RESOURCERENEWABLE TECHNOLOGIESRESIDENTIAL BUILDINGSRESIDUAL FUELRESIDUAL FUEL OILRURAL ELECTRIFICATIONRURAL ENERGYSOLAR CELLSOLAR COLLECTORSSOLAR ENERGYSOLAR ENERGY MARKETSOLAR ENERGY POTENTIALSOLAR ENERGY SYSTEMSSOLAR ENERGY TECHNOLOGIESSOLAR HOME SYSTEMSSOLAR INSTALLATIONSOLAR IRRADIANCESOLAR POWERSOLAR RADIATIONSOLAR RESOURCESSOLAR SYSTEMSSOLAR TECHNOLOGIESSOLAR THERMALSOLAR THERMAL COLLECTORSSOLAR THERMAL ELECTRICSOLAR THERMAL ENERGYSOLAR THERMAL MARKETSOLAR THERMAL SYSTEMSSOLAR WATER HEATERSSOLAR WATER HEATINGSTEAM COALSUNLIGHTSUSTAINABLE ENERGYTAX CREDITTAX CREDITSTAX EXEMPTIONTAX EXEMPTIONSTAX INCENTIVESTAX REBATETHERMAL CAPACITYTHERMAL LOSSESTHERMAL PLANTTHERMAL POWERTHERMAL POWER PLANTSTHERMAL TECHNOLOGIESUNEPURANIUMUTILITIESUTILITY GRIDVOLTAGEWATER HEATINGWATER HEATING SYSTEMWINDWIND POWERZINCWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-5845