Solar energy is dramatically more expensive than its competitors. Solar panels are not the only cost to consider in converting to solar energy. Panels need to be mounted. The areas with the greatest solar potential tend to be the least populated such as the middle of the desert. The cost of a solar panel installation is dramatically increased by the need to install batteries to store energy captured during the day for use the night. Solar systems also require solar panel direct current energy to alternating current. Installing solar panels on trackers helps track the sun through the sky, theoretically increasing solar panel efficiency. Yet the need to add motors to the solar panels increases both the cost of installation and maintenance. And if the motor fails, the efficiency of the attached solar panel falls to a fraction of its normally low efficiency. Solar energy is only officially near the cost of hydrocarbon generated power through taxpayer subsidies and government funded research. Officially, solar power cost about $0.25 per kilowatt hour while natural gas is the next most expensive at $0.12 per kilowatt hour. Coal, nuclear and hydroelectric power is all less than $0.05 per kilowatt hour. Yet this high cost per kilowatt hour ignores the public capital and subsidization that went into solar energy. In essence, the cost per installation or kilowatt touted for solar energy ignores the massive tax payer subsidies paid by those who do not use solar energy. And even with the subsidies, it is still the most expensive type of power by a factor of two.
Solar - not There Yet
Solar Energy Mis-conceptions
Solar panel installations also require more maintenance than commonly understood. In cold areas, solar panels have been rendered useless by snow build up and layers of ice. In drier climates, large scale power installations have literally drained the surrounding environment of water. Water is required to wash layers of dirt and sand from solar panels. And the large area that absorbs the suns energy raises the ambient temperature in the area, causing accelerated temperature deterioration of plastic materials in the installation and further dehydrating the surrounding area. Killing off surrounding plants leaves the soil dry and barren, further increasing the dust that must be controlled or removed.
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