Using Synergy Approach To investigate the developmental trends of Solar Energy

Abstract

In recent years, electricity generation using solar energy has become a popular trend. At present, the solar energy output value of China, the United States (US), and the European Union (EU28) together account for more than 70% of the total global output value; therefore, these nations have a significant influence on future development of solar energy technologies. In this study, we analyzed data, including those for patents; key technology; output value; trade surpluses (deficits); research and development (R&D) funds and manpower; energy density, and publications in journals, and collected data related to solar energy use in these countries to analyze trends in its use by applying the synergy theory. The subsystems investigated include the industry, government, and academic, and the study period was 2005–2015. We also integrated resources and linked application statuses to track applications by the considered subsystems. The following results were obtained at the end of this study: (1) Development of solar energy use technology has slowed down in the EU28, is growing in China, and has plateaued in the US. In terms of trends in synergy, the EU28 showed growth up to 2013, after which a rapid decline was observed; an overall growth trend was observed in China; and a plateau in the was noted in the US after 2011. (2) Overall, variations in these trends reduced across the industry subsystems affecting decision-making in companies. Overall investment in research and development (R&D) by the government has plateaued. There appeared to be a growth in the academic subsystems, with the number of studies on solar energy increasing. (3) Patents and published journal articles indicate that, in the EU28, research on key technology for solar energy use has been dominated by theory. However, in China and the US, research is mainly focused on the application of such technology. The observed trends for solar energy technologies in the study areas. However, the environment for the solar energy use can change; it is recommended that future research take market considerations into account to better understand the trends in the development of solar energy technologies.