THE CURRENT SITUATION

1.4 billion people around the world do not have reliable access to electricity. The current electric model typically uses large scale energy plants located far from final consumers. Transmitting and distributing the energy across large distance results in service disruption, energy losses and higher prices. Energy storage also becomes a dominant factor as electricity must be used as it is generated or it needs to be converted into another form of energy, as storage in batteries is limited because of their small capacity and high cost. Therefore, in order to prevent service loss and disruptions, power companies generate power far above the actual base load. This is an inefficient use of energy that also causes an excess in generated emissions.

In 2010 the energetic losses (including geothermal, solar, wind, electricity and heat, etc.; and excluding coal/peat, crude oil, oil products, natural gas, nuclear, hydro, biofuels and waste) reached 175.98 Mtoe (Million Tons of Oil Equivalent) (World Energy Statistics). This means a more sustainable model of electricity transmission and distribution must be established.

Renewable energies can be a sustainable solution to solve this problem providing diversification of the energy mix in terms of geographical sources, decreasing fossil fuels consumption and thereby, decreasing greenhouse gases emissions.

THE CURRENT SITUATION

1.4 billion people around the world do not have reliable access to electricity. The current electric model typically uses large scale energy plants located far from final consumers. Transmitting and distributing the energy across large distance results in service disruption, energy losses and higher prices. Energy storage also becomes a dominant factor as electricity must be used as it is generated or it needs to be converted into another form of energy, as storage in batteries is limited because of their small capacity and high cost. Therefore, in order to prevent service loss and disruptions, power companies generate power far above the actual base load. This is an inefficient use of energy that also causes an excess in generated emissions.