You’d need to be at least forty or have a taste for 1980s Norwegian pop music to get that terrible pun, but for someone who grew up in the ‘80s when solar energy was still in its infancy and Britain’s coal industry was being decimated, it’s wonderful to see that investment in Solar technology continues and the possibility to become fossil fuel free could soon be realized.
We still live at the mercy of nature and the impact from this year’s El Nino event will have a dramatic and disruptive effect on global food prices with an anticipated increase of 10 percent for staple foods such as rice, coffee, sugar and cocoa. The El Nino effect, which can drive droughts and flooding, is under way in the tropical Pacific. Coffee plantations in Brazil could be jeopardized, while reduced rainfall in Australia will affect banana and sugarcane crops as well as cattle herds. Likewise a drier monsoon in India will ruin crops such as groundnut and rice.
However for all the destructive power of nature we can still harness its benefits and with the adoption of solar technology, we can improve the quality of life worldwide. Securities of supply, affordability, resource and climate protection are the key challenges of energy supply around the world. The importance of renewable energy sources is therefore on the rise. More and more countries are focusing on expanding sustainable energy and now, living as I do, in Germany you get to see firsthand what is possible when a progressive government embraces renewable energy on a regional scale and what is then subsequently feasible on an international scale.
Germany is a global leader in renewable energy systems demonstrating that environmental protection, security of energy supply and economic growth are compatible. The government supports German companies in the energy sector bringing their innovative, efficient and environmentally-friendly products to global markets.
Currently 30 percent of Germany’s electric power comes from renewable energy sources and Germany’s embrace of solar power is a good example from which all the world will benefit - but it isn’t only Germany who is growing. Japan and Australia continue to expand and the USA solar and storage market is projected to see strong growth in 2015. A new report estimates that the annual USA solar market will rise from $42 million in 2014 to over $1 billion in 2018!
The key to success in this market is to advance the development and use of new and promising technologies and this is where ON Semiconductors innovation allows us to differentiate. We offer a full solution for solar inverters with our existing portfolio:
And now we are able to offer a significant benefit to our customers with the introduction of the new NTP8G206N power GaN Cascode transistor for DC to AC inverter applications. The 600V 150 mΩ single N-channel devices are housed in a TO-220 package and offer fast switching with extremely low Qrr. The new devices are available from ON Semiconductor thanks to our partnership with Transphorm.
The future of the solar industry looks bright and the contributions of companies like ON Semiconductor will be significant. So in the words of The 5th Dimension, “Let the Sunshine In”!