School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FF, U.K.
National Centre for Earth Observation, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FF, U.K.
Environ Sci Technol. 2022 Jun 21;56(12):8619-8628. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.2c01175. Epub 2022 Jun 1.
Particulate matter (PM) in the atmosphere and deposited on solar photovoltaic (PV) panels reduce PV energy generation. Reducing anthropogenic PM sources will therefore increase carbon-free energy generation and as a cobenefit will improve surface air quality. However, we lack a global understanding of the sectors that would be the most effective at achieving the necessary reductions in PM sources. Here we combine well-evaluated models of solar PV performance and atmospheric composition to show that deep cuts in air pollutant emissions from the residential, on-road, and energy sectors are the most effective approaches to mitigate PM-induced PV energy losses over East and South Asia, and the Tibetan Plateau, Central Asia, and the Arabian Peninsula, and Western Siberia, respectively. Using 2019 PV capacities as a baseline, we find that a 50% reduction in residential emissions would lead to an additional 10.3 TWh yr (US$878 million yr) and 2.5 TWh yr (US$196 million yr) produced in China and India, respectively.
大气中的颗粒物（PM）和沉积在太阳能光伏（PV）电池板上的颗粒物会降低 PV 能源的产生。因此，减少人为 PM 来源将增加无碳能源的产生，并作为附带好处，改善地表空气质量。然而，我们缺乏对哪些部门最能有效减少 PM 来源的全球认识。在这里，我们结合了经过良好评估的太阳能 PV 性能和大气成分模型，以表明从住宅、道路和能源部门大幅削减空气污染物排放，是减轻东亚和南亚、青藏高原、中亚和阿拉伯半岛以及西西伯利亚地区 PM 引起的 PV 能源损失的最有效方法。以 2019 年的 PV 容量为基准，我们发现，住宅排放量减少 50%将分别导致中国和印度增加 103 太瓦时/年（8.78 亿美元/年）和 25 太瓦时/年（1.96 亿美元/年）的产量。
