Posted on 05/04/2015 11:47:38 AM PDT by Opintel
The solar energy industry may prove to be a dark horse in the race to provide global energy security. The world has renewed its interest in solar energy investment as it searches for a cleaner and more sustainable alternative to conventional fossil fuels. Countries like China, Germany, the UK, the US, Japan and Canada have already made significant investments in solar power. Who are the other players who are investing big in solar energy? With its own set of limitations such as high installation costs and high plug-in time, are consumers across the world ready to choose solar energy to power their daily lives? Or, are the conventional energy sources still the best bet?
The best part about solar energy is that it is abundant and freely available, at least in most parts of the world. However, the high upfront costs of a photo voltaic panel remain a concern for many. Things are changing fast, however, and according to data from SEIA, the cost of an average PV system in the US is declining each year at a rate of 11%. In fact, the average price of a PV panel has dropped by 63% since the third quarter of 2010.
The process of connecting a PV system to the grid can be time consuming, frustrating and expensive. In some locations in the US, homeowners wait for more than six months to complete this process. This is one of the biggest factors that limit the tremendous potential of solar energy. Intermittency is another area that dampens the impact of this renewable as current modern grids can only cope with around 40 % of renewable input before requiring modifications. But the biggest limitation of solar energy is the lack of proper storage technology.
(Excerpt) Read more at oilprice.com ...
No.
No. And prolly never will.
Absolutely positively no.
Nope.
Negative.
Does the 11% decline actually represent a decline in the manufacturing cost in real dollars reflected in reduced retail prices, or does it represent the increasing subsidies both by the government and semi-private electric companies to support solar energy?
BINGO!
The energy in fossil fuels is self storing. Not so with solar. Large, expensive batteries that must be regularly replaced must be used. The biggest problem with solar.
Because if you've ever had to deal with PGE, it's enuff to drive you back to the caves.
But of course, there's really a simple way to have boundless electric power for groovy stuff like Tesla cars...and it's in Arizona, where there's lots of Sun:
And Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station is still only at 1/3 of it's original 10 GW capacity.
When it comes to producing electricity, no.
I'm still wondering about using solar energy for more heat generation though. Mirrors are much cheaper than solar panels and there are many valuable uses for simple heat.
From the article
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The study says that more than half of global investment in new electricity generation is in renewables. As per this report, around $150 billion was invested globally in solar energy generation in 2014 and solar energy is all set to be at grid parity in 80% of the countries in the next two years. These are big numbers. What we get from this study is that even the gulf region, which is traditionally more inclined towards oil and gas production, is slowly and steadily investing in solar energy. Very few are aware that at the end of 2014, Dubai set a new benchmark by showing the world that photovoltaic technologies can be competitive with oil at $10/ barrel and gas at $5 MMBTU.
Don’t they still need electric generating capacity to be high enough to power everything in case solar can’t keep up? Like during the darkest days in winter.
BINGO!
“fossil” fuels ARE stored “solar energy”.
The never look at the amount of energy needed, and the resultant environmental residue, create the minerals/materials of adequate purity, to make these things work.
When I see a solar powered airliner fly to Hawaii we can talk about this.
If it was you wouldn’t even need to ask the question.
It makes a nice add-on but likely will never be a primary player because it is not stable.
Solar energy has to be stored for night time usage and the batteries that are needed are both large, toxic and quickly depleted.
In a house you can use it by doing chores that require large electrical pulls during the day time and restricting your power usages after dark. If you run out of stored power you go to bed and restart in the morning.
This is not possible with factories, stores and medical facilities that run 24/7 and need a steady reliable source of power.
No, solar will NEVER be 'ready to compete'. If oil goes away, the replacement will not be solar.
In a word, NO.
Yes they are. And that’s why fossil fuels will always be with us.
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