According to a recent analysis by foreign media, if China can clear the "hazy" sky, it may increase the installed capacity of its massive solar panel power generation by 13% and bring in billions of dollars in additional revenue. Bart Sweerts from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich obtained solar radiation data between 1960 and 2015 from 119 observation stations located throughout China, and combined it with emissions of sulfur dioxide and carbon black to investigate how much anthropogenic aerosols reduced the maximum output of solar panels. The relevant research was published in the journal Nature Energy. Switz and his colleagues found that over the past 55 years, air pollution has reduced potential solar power generation by about 13%.

Currently, looking at the world, China has more installed solar power capacity than any other country. At the beginning of this year, a Chinese photovoltaic industry organization stated that China's newly installed solar power capacity in 2018 was about 43 gigawatts (GW), a year-on-year decrease of 18%. However, the China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA) stated that by the end of 2018, the installed capacity of China's new generation photovoltaic power generation had exceeded 170 gigawatts. But at the same time, China is also one of the countries in the world with relatively serious air pollution problems.

In recent years, the Chinese government has begun to address the issue of air pollution and has achieved corresponding results. In September 2013, the State Council announced the "Action Plan for Air Pollution Prevention and Control", proposing to improve the national air quality in the next five years. By the end of 2017, China had achieved almost all of the major goals outlined in the Action Plan.

And now, we know that treating air pollution in this way will also bring great economic benefits: because clear skies can increase the power generation potential of solar panels.

The utilization rate curve of solar energy in China from 1965 to 2015 (utilization rate refers to the ratio of the actual output power of solar panels to the maximum output power) (Source: Bart Sweerts/Nature Energy)

According to research speculation, there may have been a loss of 14 terawatt hours (or 14 trillion watts per hour) of electricity generation in 2016, which is equivalent to the annual electricity generation of Tunisia as a whole. By 2030, it is expected that China's installed solar power capacity will increase by more than three times compared to 2016, and this number is likely to soar to 74 terawatt hours, equivalent to Bangladesh's current total electricity generation.

If there were no air pollution, the value of newly added electricity in 2016 could reach $1.9 billion, and the value in 2030 could reach $6.7 billion. This is a significant loss of electricity and billions of dollars in revenue. Even for a country like China, this number is quite substantial, "said Switz.

As early as 2017, similar studies also pointed out similar results. Researchers from institutions such as Duke University in the United States and the Indian Institute of Technology's Gandhinagar campus collaborated to analyze the impact of suspended particles in the air and the dust they form on solar panels on power generation efficiency. The results indicate that dust and man-made pollutants in the air can seriously damage the efficiency of solar power generation equipment, with losses exceeding 25% in some regions. Countries and regions with larger installed capacity, such as China, India, and the Arabian Peninsula, are the hardest hit. China supports the deployment of solar power generation equipment on urban residential buildings or other structures in various regions, but due to issues such as air pollution, solar panels in these cities have been severely affected. Moreover, the higher the population density in areas, the more severe the air pollution problem, so the corresponding power generation efficiency of solar panels is worse. According to Switz's research, he found a "small reversal" in air pollution between 2010 and 2015, indicating that the Chinese government's efforts to address environmental issues have shown initial success. But he also warned that "this is still far from the atmospheric conditions at the beginning of the research." The control of air pollution is not only related to livelihood issues, but also affects economic development, and requires long-term attention and attention.