Image copyright Getty Images most people see Apple as a manufacturer of smartphones, tablets and computers, and not as a supplier of electrical energy.
But this concept began to change in August, when the giant of Silicon Valley was authorized to sell the power generated from a solar power plant in California, which was acquired by the company in the past year.
Apple has invested in renewable energy in other times and states that their main goal is to make all of its operations are carried out using 100% energy sourced from renewable sources.
Another technology giant, Amazon, has just announced the construction of a new wind power plant with a capacity of 253 megawatts in west Texas.
Already, Google has invested in the Generation System of Solar Energy Ivanpah and recently joined the company SunPower to offer solar panels for homes.
Interests
But why these companies are so interested in renewable energy?
“These big corporations, the electricity is one of their main expenses,” says Ash Sharma, an analyst of solar energy at IHS Technology. “Keep this cost to a low price is crucial for them.”
Today, data processing centers consume a huge amount of energy. In addition to having to maintain the servers in operation 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, the equipment need to be stored at a low temperature – something that, by itself, already represents a high cost.
And for that Google has an interest in selling solar panels for homes?
The company said that want to map “the potential solar of the planet” – data issued from these panels, including the capture, could provide information on future strategies of energy.
Popularization of solar energy
The price of solar energy has been falling more rapidly than some experts had predicted.
In an energy auction in Abu Dhabi, in September, a consortium of sino-japanese promised to build a solar power plant that could produce energy at less than 2.5 cents per kilowatt/hour – far less than the average price of energy from gas and coal in the United States, and the promise of cheaper in terms of solar energy has already made.
Sharma believes that the fall in the price is strongly related to a boom in the manufacture of solar panels.
“China has increased so gigantic its production capacity and today responsible for about 80% of all solar panels manufactured in the world,” explains the analyst.
As the cost of building solar plants falls, the world comes from watching the a multiplication of megainstalações.
According to Sharma, a few years ago a project of 50 megawatts would have been considered something great. But now, there are several plants ready to produce hundreds of megawatts or more.
Among them is the largest plant in the world, capable of producing 750 megawatts and is located in Madhya Pradesh, India. She was christened university rewa Ultra Mega Solar and should be completed in the coming year, according to the authorities of the country.
Price drop
in Addition to these megaprojects, the new research promising for improving the cells of the solar collector are being carried out.
Some panels new, use synthetic materials that mimic the crystal structure of the mineral perovskita – this cheapens the manufacture of the cells, and should increase the efficiency of the panels.
solar energy accounts for only 1% of the total global energy resources. But the continuous increase in supply should make this number change soon.
Sharma believes that the changes will also have a lasting impact on prices. His company, IHS Technologies, it is estimated that the cost of solar energy should drop “about 30%” in the coming year.
The giants of Silicon Valley are among the largest and most powerful corporations in the world. Therefore, it is no surprise that they are making ways to the field of energy – they know very well that everything that they produce depends on it.
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