Quickly to the point. I fully believe that solar energy is the way of the future. It might take 10 years or it might take 100 years, possibly even longer, but at some point the majority of our energy will come from the Sun. It is up there throwing ridiculous amounts of energy our way, quite simply sooner or later someone will figure out a cost effective way of harvesting it on a very large scale. I do not currently own any shares from solar energy related companies, though the thought has certainly crossed my mind more than once. All discussion related to solar energy itself as well as different publicly traded companies specialising in solar energy is more than welcome.
Solar energy with solar panels is already viable, the problem is the storage of the electricity. The biggest problem is battery technology has not changed much in the last 100 years, so there is research on finding new cheap efficient batteries. The cost for 1W of solar panel is approximately $1, there are calculators online which will show you how long it will take to payback the cost of the solar panel, usually it is around 5 years. The lifespan of a solar panel is approximately 20+ years but the problem is battery lifespan is only 3 years.
They are economically viable in areas that get a lot of sun... and areas where you get government subsidies for installing them. But any larger scale production, for the moment, is only feasible with government subsidies. While the energy is essentially free, the maintenance and as you mentioned lifespan of batteries and the panels themselves, make it more expensive than several other methods. Kind of like wind energy, it's expensive to install, cheap to run and expensive to replace. And there is of course the problem of only generating noticeable amounts of energy when the sun is shining, but as you mentioned better storage options will help with this. There are also infrared solar panels that produce energy from IR instead of visible light, thus providing almost similar energy output during cloudy weather and also keeping the energy coming during night, though obviously at a reduced rate.
I feel like while solar energy seems very attractive on paper, the actual implementation would need a lot of work before it becomes universally viable. There are lots of areas that get little to no sunlight during the winter. This tech is not exactly as cheap as coal either. You're right when you say it could take quite a while, so why should we invest now instead of waiting?
Because it does not need to be universally viable in order to be economically profitable. Lots of solar energy companies are already making a profit. Why invest now? Well that is for everyone to decide themselves but I would rather jump in too early than too late. I still do not own any solar energy companies but I am looking into them.
That is the fact, investing before a big boom is the best to make money, because when the prices go sky-high it will happen the same with our investment.
Solar energy is going to see a large increase in the next coming years. Anyone with any financial ability can see that. However, until they can get some kinks out of the system, I will not invest.
I have a few bucks in First Solar, along with a few bucks in other alt energies. The key for any energy source is to be able to make it viable (affordable, reliable, etc) on a large scale. I think we've got a ways to go before we can declare oil and gas a thing of the past.
Solar energy is definitely the way for the future, It's basically the only renewable form of energy that we have that can work on everything! Imagine a solar powered car? and, only relying on the sun to run every appliance in your home? Also, my country doesn't have any solar energy company on the stock market so I have some researching to do outside my country should I want to invest.
