A short review and discussion about the limiting factors, which can hold back wind and photovoltaic power plants from its presently exponential growth

TL;DR

This paper reviews ten key limiting factors that could hinder the exponential growth of wind and photovoltaic power plants, emphasizing their importance for achieving rapid CO2 emission reductions and climate change mitigation.

Contribution

It identifies and discusses ten specific factors that may restrict the exponential expansion of renewable energy sources, highlighting their significance for future energy and climate goals.

Findings

Identified ten limiting factors affecting VRE growth

Addressing these factors is crucial for maintaining exponential expansion

Exponential growth could enable near-complete CO2 emission reduction by 2030

Abstract

The present nearly exponential growth of the cumulative installation power of wind and photovoltaic power plants is very promising in the context of a rapid reduction of the emission of CO2, which can lead to a swift mitigation climate change if this growth behavior is maintained in the future. In this review we identify a set of ten limiting factors that can restrain, or halt back, an exponential growth of these variable renewable power plants (VREs) in the future. If the exponential growth slows down to a linear growth, such a case would extent considerably the time to reduce the CO2 emissions and the related mitigation of climate change. A scenario that would result to a much higher risk of a future continuation of the economic grow and thrive of the global economy and human society. We argue that if these limiting factors are adequately addressed to an exponential expansion VRE power plants is feasible and can result in the nearly complete avoidance of CO2 emissions as related to energy generation and consumption in 2030.