The installation of solar power plants on abandoned land plots will bring about 60,000 TW of energy annually

Scientists from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and Engineering have identified the potential to use abandoned arable land worldwide for bioenergy and solar energy, EcoTechnica reports. In their work, the researchers used a time series of remotely sensed maps of the earth's surface provided by the European Space Agency.

As a result, about 83 million unused territories were identified. Of the total area, 30% are in Asia, 28% in America, 22% in Africa, 20% in Europe, and 5% in Oceania.

The efficiency of placing photovoltaic installations on these sites was calculated based on the Euro-Mediterranean Climate Change Center data.

The report says that out of 83 million hectares of land, 78 million hectares can be used for the energy industry. Of these, 53 million hectares, 68%, are optimal for creating solar power plants, and 24 million hectares (32%) - for growing raw materials for biofuel.

The researchers say that the full exploitation of the currently unused lands will make it possible to obtain 179 exajoules (49,722 TWh) of energy annually using photovoltaic installations and 35 exajoules (9,722 TWh) from bioenergy technologies.

Scientists pointed out the east coast of America, Central America, certain regions of Africa, Central Europe and Southeast Asia to generate electricity by converting solar energy. And for bioenergy, the most attractive is the west coast of South America, Africa and Southeast Asia.

Abandoned land is not the only place that can be used to generate energy from renewable sources. Thus, the National Laboratory for the Study of Renewable Energy of the United States determined that the creation of floating solar power plants on the reservoirs of existing hydroelectric power plants will make it possible to produce an additional 7.6 TW of energy per year. And the Indian National Institute of Wind Energy has calculated that the placement of wind turbines on arable land, wasteland and forest land in India will generate 685 GW of electricity annually.

Earlier it was reported that in 2020, wind energy in Europe grew by 7%.

Tags: renewable energy, solar energy, electricity, EU, USA, renewables, ecology, Africa, carbon neutrality

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