Pros and cons of solar photovoltaic energy

PROS OF SOLAR ENERGY CONS OF SOLAR ENERGY

Lower your electric bill Doesn't work for every roof type

Improve the value of your home Not ideal if you're about to move

Reduce your carbon footprint Buying panels can be expensive

Combat rising electricity costs Low electricity costs = lower savings

Earn money back on your Finding local solar installers can be

investment difficult

Advantages of Solar Energy

1. Marginal cost of generation is zero
For most American homeowners the most significant attraction to solar power
is that once the capital cost of installation is paid off the energy is free. This
means the only real question is whether the payback period on the capital
investment is better than the returns you would get from investing the same
money in other ways.

You may be surprised that we now list this as the leading advantage of solar
energy. The reason we do this is that most homeowners are now more
interested in the financial aspects of installing solar rather than the
environmental benefits.

The importance we put on this factor has increased since our original article
because solar payback and returns on investment have improved a lot since
2016 because of falling residential solar panels cost. You can use the solar
cost estimator on our sister site Solar-Estimate.org to see see solar panel cost
tailored to the size and location of your home based on live current solar
offers in your city. The calculator will give you a fairly accurate estimate of
your investment return from solar panels and your payback period. Once you
have reached your payback period you have free electricity from that point on.

2. Insurance against rising power prices

Installing a solar power system on your home means you can lock in a price
of energy for at least the 25-year life of the solar panels. You know how much
energy the solar panels will produce so that once you get an accurate price
quote you know exactly how much each kilowatt-hour of energy will cost you
over the next 25 years. Many consumers are now able to get a levelized cost
of energy of $0.10 per kilowatt-hour. When you compare this to the average
amount you will pay to your utility for power over the next 25 years, the
average consumer with a $150 per month power bill can see savings in the
range $30,000 over the life of a solar system. The monthly savings don't start
out being huge, perhaps only $50 per month but in the 25th year, it can reach
savings of $300 per month. You can use this solar savings calculator to check
what your savings will be based on usage and utility rates.

3. Renewable
Solar energy is a renewable energy source: NASA estimates that the sun will
shine for another 6.5 billion years. Most of us aren't too concerned out that far.

Solar energy is abundant: The surface of the earth receives 120,000 terawatts
of solar radiation (sunlight) – 20,000 times more power than what is needed to
supply the entire world.

4. Environmentally friendly
Harnessing solar energy does not generally cause pollution. Whilst there are
some emissions associated with the production and installation of solar
energy equipment these emissions are minimal when compared to generating
electricity from fossil fuels.

According to the Department of Energy, the energy payback period for solar
panels is between 1 to 4 years. That is, depending on the type of solar panel,
it can take between 1 to 4 years to generate the amount of energy it took to
make it. Given solar panels are warranted to last 25 years, this is pretty good!

5. Geographically widely available

The level of solar irradiation that falls upon the earth varies with the
geography of the planet. Generally, the closer to the equator the more solar
energy but what most don't realize is that solar energy can be used anywhere.

For example, in the sunniest parts of America a solar system will produce on
average 4.7 kWh of power per 1 kilowatt of solar panels but in the least sunny
areas, such as the mountains and northeast, it will still produce 2.9 kilowatt-
hours per kilowatt installed, per day. So although some areas are better than
others for solar power, it is still viable in almost all locations.

6. Reduces electricity costs

With the introduction of net metering and feed-in tariff (FIT) schemes,
homeowners can now "sell" excess electricity, or receive bill credits, during
times when they produce more electricity than what they actually consume.
This means that homeowners can reduce their overall electricity expenses by
going solar.

Data from Solar-Estimate reveals that adding solar panels to your home can
bring in annual savings of well above $1000 per year in many states. In
California, on average residents save $73,714 over the lifetime of the panels!
The availability of solar finance options in the form of Solar PPA agreements
and various zero down loan facilities has meant solar is now more affordable
and more available than ever before.
If you want to see the average cost of solar panels installed in your county
and calculate savings you could expect from installing solar on your home,
visit our cost of solar panels page.

7. Community Solar can be used to overcome installation issues

Because of shading, insufficient space and ownership issues many American
homes are simply unfit for solar panels. With the introduction of shared solar,
homeowners can subscribe to "community solar gardens," and generate solar
electricity without actually having solar panels on their own rooftops. The
advantage of this is that installation costs can be cheaper if large numbers of
panels are installed on vacant land.

Legislation is required to enable community solar in each state. While this has
existed for some time in a few smaller states it is only just coming into play in
key states such as California and New York.

8. No moving parts mean no noise and little maintenance

Because there are no moving parts involved in solar power systems, there is
no noise pollution associated with photovoltaics. Also, because there are no
moving parts in solar panels (unlike other renewable technologies like wind
turbines,) the chance of things breaking down is greatly reduced.

9. Financial support from government/state

You can get a massive 26% federal tax rebate for installing solar panels in
2020 (the rebate drops down to 22% in 2021 and to 0% in 2022). In addition
to this federal tax credit, there are also rebates available in some jurisdictions
at either the state, county or utility company level. If you use the solar
panel calculator here you can see what rebates, tax credits and other
incentives your house is entitled to based on its location, the utility company
you are with and the number of solar panels you need to power your home.

10. Technology is improving

Technological advancements are constantly being made in the design and
manufacture of solar power equipment. As the cells in solar panels become
more efficient at turning solar energy into electricity, the amount of space
required to generate a specific amount of solar power will fall. However, do
not expect further dramatic advances; in recent years gains in efficiency have
been only modest and incremental rather than revolutionary.
Disadvantages of Solar Energy
1. High capital cost
Is solar power really expensive? This is probably the most debatable aspect
of the entire solar energy pros and cons list. The driving forces behind the
development of solar energy are rooted in politics. Solar power received
government subsidies but the oil and coal industries have also been
subsidized. In 2010, coal received $1,189 billion in federal subsidies and
support for electricity production while solar is not far behind at $968 billion.

Nowadays, the best solar panels can in many situations be cheaper than
buying electricity from the utility.

2. Solar energy is an intermittent energy source

There are three aspects of the intermittent nature of solar power;

 Firstly the sun doesn't shine at night and so solar panels don't generate
power at night.
 Secondly, the sun shines with different intensity and different times of
the year and different times of each day; and
 Cloud cover can have a significant effect on the amount of energy
produced by solar panels

All of these factors have meant that to date the prevailing wisdom is that solar
power can not be relied on for baseload or for mission-critical applications.

However, this is changing with the emergence of lithium-ion battery solutions

suitable to allow consumers to cost-effectively store solar power. The most
popular among these is the Tesla Powerwall, but excellent products are also
available from rival manufacturers such as sonnen, LG, and BYD.

Ongoing advances in battery storage are a sign that intermittency may not be
a limitation on solar power for long.

3. Energy storage is expensive

Energy storage systems such as the Tesla Powerwall home solar battery will
help smoothen out demand and load, making solar power more stable, but
these technologies are also expensive.

Luckily, there's a good correspondence between our access to solar energy

and human energy demand. Our electricity demand peaks in the middle of the
day, which also happens to be the same time there's a lot of sunlight!

4. Associated with pollution

While solar power certainly is less polluting than fossil fuels, some problems
do exist. Some manufacturing processes are associated with greenhouse gas
emissions. Nitrogen trifluoride and sulfur hexafluoride have been traced back
to the production of solar panels. These are some of the most potent
greenhouse gases and have many thousand times the impact on global
warming compared to carbon dioxide. Transportation and installation of solar
power systems can also indirectly cause pollution.

The bottom line is this: There’s nothing that’s completely risk-free in the
energy world, but solar power compares very favorably with all other
technologies.

5. Exotic materials
Certain solar cells require materials that are expensive and rare in nature.
This is especially true for thin-film solar cells that are based on either
cadmium telluride (CdTe) or copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS).

6. Requires space
Power density, or watt per square meter (W/m2), is essential when looking at
how much power can be derived from a certain area of real estate of an
energy source. Low power density indicates that too much real estate is
required to provide the power we demand at reasonable prices. The global
mean power density for solar radiation is 170 W/m². This is more than any
other renewable energy source, but not comparable to oil, gas and nuclear
power.

7. Solar doesn't move house

One of the disadvantages of installing solar panels on your home is that it is
expensive to move them should you decide to move. The net metering
agreement with your utility is fixed to the property. However, in practice, solar
panels add value to a home and so even if you do move you are likely to see
the value of your investment in solar panels reflected in higher sale price. It is
much easier if you purchase the solar panels outright in case you do move
because with a lease or PPA you need the new owner to agree to take over
the agreement.