First published 1982. Twice during the 1970s -- the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973-74 and the tight oil market of 1978-79 associated with the political upheaval in Iran -- the U.S. economy experienced severe shocks as a result of massive price increases for imported oil. By 1980 the price for imported crude oil had increased to nearly twenty times the price in 1970. This book seeks to provide a basis for determining the macroeconomic effects of solar energy investments over the 1980 to 2000 time period. It structures its analysis in a multidimensional form, specifying variations in • conventional energy costs; • solar market penetration; • solar technology costs.

Solar Energy Forecasting and Resource Assessment is a vital text for solar energy professionals, addressing a critical gap in the core literature of the field. As major barriers to solar energy implementation, such as materials cost and low conversion efficiency, continue to fall, issues of intermittency and reliability have come to the fore. Scrutiny from solar project developers and their financiers on the accuracy of long-term resource projections and grid operators' concerns about variable short-term power generation have made the field of solar forecasting and resource assessment pivotally important. This volume provides an authoritative voice on the topic, incorporating contributions from an internationally recognized group of top authors from both industry and academia, focused on providing information from underlying scientific fundamentals to practical applications and emphasizing the latest technological developments driving this discipline forward. - The only reference dedicated to forecasting and assessing solar resources enables a complete understanding of the state of the art from the world's most renowned experts. - Demonstrates how to derive reliable data on solar resource availability and variability at specific locations to support accurate prediction of solar plant performance and attendant financial analysis. - Provides cutting-edge information on recent advances in solar forecasting through monitoring, satellite and ground remote sensing, and numerical weather prediction.

This report presents the results of a sectoral demand analysis for photo- voltaic power systems used in the residential sector single family homes], the service, commercial, and institutional sector [schools] and in the central power sector. The results described are the output of a set of three normative modeling activities carried out by the MIT Energy Laboratory, They are based on the assumption that the actors, i.e., the utilities, schools, and homeowners, will switch to photovoltaic power systems when they are cost-effective relative to the competition, that is, centralized power generation using conventional fuels. In each case the assumption is made that the market for photovoltaic power systems will be a new market, not a retrofit market. As a result the annual (total for utilities) sales potential at a given price is estimated for each sector assuming a specific level of new installations in that sector, i.e., new single-family homes, new schools, and additions to utility stocks. As such, the results presented are maxima for a given application. While the methodology presented does not allow for any early acceptors, it does assume that once economic all new homeowners, school-builders, and utilities will buy to a fixed level.

This study presents options to fully unlock the world’s vast solar PV potential over the period until 2050. It builds on IRENA’s global roadmap to scale up renewables and meet climate goals.