"1.21 Gigawatts!
How am I supposed to generate that much power? It's impossible!"
— Dr. Emmett Brown
Many of you will remember the 1985 film classic Back to the Future. In the movie, Marty McFly convinces Dr. Brown (“Doc”) that he traveled to the past using a time machine that Doc himself built in the future, and that it has run out of power. Eventually, Doc agrees to help Marty, but he faces a major challenge: generating 1.21 gigawatts (GW) to power the DeLorean.
In the mid-1980s, nuclear energy seemed extremely promising. It was considered the future and the only way to move beyond fossil fuels. Many things changed after the Chernobyl accident the following year, but that is another story.
Returning to the future: it is now 2020, pharmacies still do not sell plutonium, and many things have changed over the past 35 years. The future of energy is no longer centered on nuclear power, but rather on next-generation renewables, particularly solar and wind energy, combined with energy storage and hydrogen. That may well be the winning combination of the future.
Next-generation renewable energy technologies have become a defining feature of our present. Their expansion is no longer part of some distant future barely visible on the horizon, nor are their costs as prohibitive as they once were. Today, they can be found in homes, businesses, and industries alike. We can even see large portions of agricultural land beginning to use their available space to harvest sunlight.
If Doc from Back to the Future had to generate 1.21 GW to power the DeLorean using today’s technology, could renewable energy in Mexico help him? Let’s find out.
According to figures from Mexico’s Ministry of Energy, installed electricity generation capacity reached 79.60 GW by the end of 2019. This includes plants powered by fossil fuels, such as combined-cycle plants fueled by natural gas, conventional thermal plants, and internal combustion facilities that require diesel and fuel oil, as well as coal-fired power plants that, as their name suggests, use coal.
There is also hydroelectric power, which relies on dams and other water resources, and nuclear energy generated by the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) at the Laguna Verde Nuclear Power Plant in Veracruz. And, of course, there are solar photovoltaic, wind, and geothermal energy sources.
Solar photovoltaic capacity represented 4.37 percent of Mexico’s total installed capacity in 2019, equivalent to 3.4 GW. This means that if all of the country’s solar installations operated simultaneously for a few minutes, we could send Marty into the future nearly three times. If we add wind power, we could send him back to the future eight times.
Mexico’s renewable energy potential is so significant that on April 19 at midday, solar, wind, hydroelectric, and geothermal energy sources together supplied 33 percent of the electricity being consumed at that moment. Solar power alone contributed an average of 1.76 gigawatts every hour throughout the month, and I am confident that this is only the beginning.
At a time when renewable energy has become the subject of public debate, it is important to return to the future and leave the past behind. We can all help design strategies that enable the country to achieve a genuine energy transition, integrate more renewable energy, strengthen electrical grids, decentralize energy systems, and digitize consumption.
So, Doc, in the future pharmacies do not sell plutonium, but solar panels are very inexpensive and easy to find.
This article was originally published by Business Insider México.
Date: Mayo 27, 2020
Original Link: https://businessinsider.mx/volver-al-futuro-energias-renovables-mexico-opinion-paul-alejandro-sanchez-energia-circular [offline]
Archived Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20240227201720/https://businessinsider.mx/volver-al-futuro-energias-renovables-mexico-opinion-paul-alejandro-sanchez-energia-circular/[Archived]