Why is solar energy not your main source of energy?

Answer 1

Because coal is plentiful and cheap, and there are plenty of coal plants around to burn it. There are many workers making their living by mining, processing, and shipping coal. To change to sunlight and wind will displace these workers (necessitating re-training), and it will inconvenience some pretty rich and powerful people. Also, solar is not cheap to install, and the wind is inconsistent. Power companies like to be able to control their output.

Answer 2

Solar energy is not the main source of energy for several reasons: it can be intermittent and dependent on sunlight, which limits its reliability; the initial installation cost can be high; and large-scale storage solutions are still being developed to address the intermittent nature of solar energy. As technology advances and costs decrease, however, solar energy is becoming more competitive and feasible as a primary energy source.

Answer 3

Major draw back for Solar energy especially in Photo Voltaic type is the cost. With progress efficiency, the cost per unit still keep rising. A solar thermal plant in alternative can be made at reasonably cost competitive but was limited to economy of scale to be in a large size.

Both Photo Voltaic or Solar Thermal plant also share common draw back on energy storage. Solar thermal can only operated during day time and not work well with cloudy sky so it require power back up over the night or cloudy day. Storing electricity using battery is very expensive. Solar thermal could store energy in the form of molten salt (thermal energy storage) but that is only for short term.

If the solar energy plant would be put to use in large scale, it would require a back up power plant either from Hydropower, Biomass power, geothermal power or a nuclear power.

Answer 4

Because they are expensive to instal. In the UK about £15,000 (thats $22,000) to produce an average 2.5 kW, and of course nothing after dark. Unless heavily subsidised the economics do not make sense.