Ask HN: What is the biggest challenge for solar energy? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest challenge for solar energy?

#41

Post by Things4People » Thu, Nov 24, 2022, 9:12 AM UTC

CrypticShift wrote: post #20

> What is the biggest challenge for solar energy? If you factor in all the cycle energy (making, disposing, replacing…), What is the real current total energy balance of solar energy (versus others)? I'm wondering because solar is very tech intensive. So if you build a 1 billion dollars farm, 10 years later the technology is a lot more efficient. Are you going to replace it all? To be honest, this is more like a ques…

That's a good point! But how can the technology develop if no one would invest in it?

Do you know anything about the whole life cycle of solar energy? I would be really interested to know more about it.

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest challenge for solar energy?

#42

Post by CrypticShift » Thu, Nov 24, 2022, 11:06 AM UTC

Things4People wrote: post #41

CrypticShift wrote: post #20

> What is the biggest challenge for solar energy? If you factor in all the cycle energy (making, disposing, replacing…), What is the real current total energy balance of solar energy (versus others)? I'm wondering because solar is very tech intensive. So if you build a 1 billion dollars farm, 10 years later the technology is a lot more efficient. Are you going to replace it all? To be honest, this is more like a ques…

That's a good point! But how can the technology develop if no one would invest in it? Do you know anything about the whole life cycle of solar energy? I would be really interested to know more about it.

> Do you know anything about the whole life cycle of solar

Unfortunately, No. And it is indeed a dilemma. If you don’t invest, you don’t grow. However, if you invest early, you may be creating a lot of unnecessary energy use.

This also apply to things like electric cars and batteries. We should always see the bigger picture, but someone has to do the dirty math.

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest challenge for solar energy?

#43

Post by solardev » Thu, Nov 24, 2022, 3:04 PM UTC

credit_guy wrote: post #35

There is no big problem with solar energy. In the US at least the industry is installing as much new solar as possible. Take a look at this EIA webpage [1]. Of all the new installed capacity in 2021, solar constituted 39%, followed by wind with 31%. Natural gas comes at a great distance, with 16%, and the next one is not really a source of electricity. It's batteries, with 11%. Nuclear comes with 3%. So, the only new…

It's killing the grid with huge peaks and valleys and insufficient storage

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest challenge for solar energy?

#44

Post by yakak » Thu, Nov 24, 2022, 9:35 PM UTC

Things4People wrote: post #40

yakak wrote: post #23

The economic advantage in delaying. Given the large build outs and that you don't want to replace panels for 15+ years, a Moore's law like rate of improvement often seems like a reason to wait and pay less for better panels that will have a higher productivity.

How could this be changed?

I'm not really sure.. Expiring tax incentives for home energy choices seem to deliver points where one knew it was better to invest before the expiration than in the 12-36 months after the credit was gone. Devices reaching limits of a current system can also drive people to buy as devices that are much more sophisticated are often a longer wait than incremental improvements.