Covid-19 lockdown air quality change implications for solar energy generation over China

Bibliographic Data

ID15547018
AuthorsKelvin Tsz Hei Choi (0000-0002-5796-5263, Imperial College London, corresponding author), Helen Brindley (0000-0002-7859-9207, Imperial College London)
Year2020
Volume16
Issue2
Pages024029-024029
Publication date2020-12-16
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEnvironmental Research Letters (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1748-9326 • E-ISSN: 1748-9326
PublisherIOP Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1088/1748-9326/abd42f
OpenAlexW3111463320
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited44

We exploit changes in air quality seen during the COVID-19 lockdown over China to show how a cleaner atmosphere has notable co-benefits for solar concentrator photovoltaic energy generation. We use satellite observations and analyses of the atmospheric state to simulate surface broadband and spectrally resolved direct normal irradiance (DNI). Over Wuhan, the first city placed under lockdown, we show how the atmospheric changes not only lead to a 19.8% increase in broadband DNI but also induce a significant blue-shift in the DNI spectrum. Feeding these changes into a solar cell simulator results in a 29.7% increase in the power output for a typical triple-junction photovoltaic cell, with around one-third of the increase arising from enhanced cell efficiency due to improved spectral matching. Our estimates imply that these increases in power and cell efficiency would have been realised over many parts of China during the lockdown period. This study thus demonstrates how a cleaner atmosphere may enable more efficient large scale solar energy generation. We conclude by setting our results in the context of future climate change mitigation and air pollution policies

Air quality index · Atmosphere (unit · Atmospheric sciences · Context (archaeology · Geography · Irradiance · Meteorology · Optics · Photovoltaic system · Solar energy · Solar irradiance · Atmospheric aerosols and clouds · Atmospheric Ozone and Climate · Engineering · Environmental Science · Solar Radiation and Photovoltaics

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