E&E News features CGD's paper on China and India's solar potential and quotes CGD senior fellow David Wheeler and former researcher Kevin Ummel.
From the article:
"A new study finds vast opportunities for concentrating solar power in China and India and calls on governments to redirect renewable energy subsidies to make the technology competitive with coal. In modeling both the cost and the logistical potential of concentrating solar power (CSP), Center for Global Development researcher Kevin Ummel concluded that by 2050, China and India could provide 20 percent of their electricity using the pollution-free power for about $340 billion in subsidies.
That, according to other studies, is far less than the amount those countries currently are paying to subsidize renewable energy plans. One leading clean energy expert said the finding turns the conventional wisdom -- that fueling low-carbon economies is too expensive for developing countries -- on its head.
"The reality ... is far different," wrote David Wheeler, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development. He noted that since 1990, developing countries have accounted for 55 percent of the global increase in clean energy development. Meanwhile, China and India -- two of the largest growing emitters of greenhouse gas pollution -- already are on path to spend $1.3 trillion and $243 billion, respectively, on existing plans to develop their renewable energy potential.”
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