Many of the world’s conventional power plants were getting old and in need of replacement, and this was a distinct opportunity for renewable energy, emphasised International Solar Energy Society (ISES) president Monica Oliphant.

She noted that in the European Union alone, some 450 GW of electricity generating plant was set to go offline by 2015.

For the world to reach its climate change-linked emission reduction targets there needed to be an awareness of where the emissions originated from, and there should be a high penetration of a range of renewable energy sources, with the right source chosen for a specific location.

Addressing delegates at the World Solar Congress in Johannesburg on Tuesday, she said that this process was “well underway”, but current renewable energy growth rates needed to continue, and infrastructure be put in place, because existing transmission and distribution networks were inadequate to cope with future growth of renewable energy technologies.

Oliphant noted that there is currently about 280 GW of installed renewable energy (excluding large hydro) capacity worldwide, and in 2007 and 2008, grid connected solar photovoltaic (PV) experienced growth rates of 73%, while PV production increased by 86%. Solar water heating increased by 15% over the same period, while wind power capacity increased by 29%; ethanol production went up by 24%, and biodiesel volumes also increased by 33%.

She noted that the global financial crisis did have a negative impact on the renewable energy market, although recovery was visible, and it was expected that the market would still generate investments in the region of $100-billion in 2009.

Identifying where emissions originated was an important starting point, and Oliphant stated that about 75% to 80% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions are generated in cities.

Solar cities, she further explained, were cities striving to be powered exclusively by renewable energy, and they committed to yearly emission reductions, which were at levels consistent with the need to stabilise emissions.

She added that transitioning to a sustainable solar city hinged on good policies, and strong commitments from governments. A strong commitment from the community was also important, and a mindset of cooperation needed to be encouraged, while education for all ages was vital in the success of a solar city.

Oliphant further gave examples of solar cities, and these included Freiburg in Germany and the Canary Islands in Spain, which combined three programmes of energy efficiency – wind, hydro and solar power – for generation, and a gradual conversion to clean fuels. She noted that in Iceland, while power was 100% derived from fossil fuels in the 1970s, today, the country had 62% power from geothermal, 20% from hydro, 16% from oil, and 2% coal.

Another example she gave was the Thisted municipality in Thy, Denmark, where over 100% of the electricity, and more than 80% of the heat is fossil fuel free. Here, the renewable energy is derived from sun, wind, geothermal power and biomass.

Solar cities were doing “a good job” of starting off the process of conversion to renewable energies, said Oliphant, but added that they must be monitored to understand how much further they needed to go to reach the climate change turnaround goal of 2 t of carbon dioxide per capita.