The largest businesses in Silicon Valley are making significant investments in renewable energy, which may indicate that the energy market is changing quickly.
MThe majority of people consider Apple to be a manufacturer of smart watches, laptops, and phones rather than an energy supplier. However, all of that changed in August when the company received approval to sell energy from a solar farm it had purchased in California the previous year.
Apple has already made investments in renewable energy and has stated that its ultimate goal is to run its entire business entirely on renewable energy. In such endeavours, it is also not alone. Amazon, an online retailer, recently revealed that a new 253 megawatt wind farm is being built in West Texas. In contrast, Google recently partnered with SunPower to offer solar panels to homeowners and has invested in the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, which is shown above. Why are renewable energy sources so appealing to tech companies?
According to Ash Sharma, a solar energy analyst at IHS Technology, "electricity is one of these large corporations' biggest expenses." "It is really important for them to lock that in at a low price."
Modern data centres require a lot of energy to run. All of that equipment must be kept cold in addition to running servers around-the-clock, which is quite expensive in and of itself. But why would Google want to install solar panels on people's houses? According to the company, it aims to chart "the planet's solar potential"; the information gathered from these panels, particularly their absorption, may help guide future energy policies.
However, the cost of solar energy has been declining faster than some anticipated. A Japanese and Chinese consortium placed the lowest bid for a solar farm yet at an energy auction held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, last month. The bid would have produced energy at less than 2.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, which is much less expensive than the average cost of energy sources like coal and gas in the US.
To power its servers, Amazon is investing in wind farms. [Source: Getty Images]
To power its servers, Amazon is investing in wind farms. [Source: Getty Images]
Sharma believes that the surge in the production of solar panels is mostly due to the declining cost of solar energy.
"China's manufacturing capacity has increased significantly," he says. About 80% of all solar panels produced worldwide are produced in this nation.
And the world has seen an increase in awe-inspiringly large installations as the cost of constructing a solar farm has drastically decreased. According to Sharma, a 50 megawatt project might have been seen as large just a few years ago. However, a few of facilities are now ready to generate several hundred megawatts or more. This contains the largest power plant in the world, a 750 megawatt facility located in Madhya Pradesh, India. Officials intend to complete it in 2017, and it has been dubbed "Rewa Ultra Mega Solar."
In addition to all of this, some fascinating research into improved solar cells is also in progress. Synthetic materials that resemble the crystal structure of the mineral perovskite are used in certain recent experimental panels. As a result, the cells are inexpensive to produce, and while they are still in the early stages of development, these panels are becoming more and more effective.
Although solar still only makes up around 1% of the world's energy resources, this is expected to alter as the supply continues to grow. Additionally, Sharma thinks that the impact on prices will continue. According to IHS Technology, solar energy prices will drop "by about 30%" in the upcoming year.
Among the biggest and most influential corporations in the world are the tech giants. Since they are well aware that everything else depends on the generation of energy, it may not come as a huge surprise that they are getting involved in it.
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