When would we able to use solar energy commercially on extremely large scale? will that energy be costly?

Question

which country is working on it?

Answer 1

Solar energy has been commercially available for more than 50 years. The reason it's not more widely used is its cost. There are only 2 ways to make it cost effective: 1) if other technologies rise in cost above what solar costs; 2) some company develops a cheaper way to make solar cells. There are companies working on this, but nothing new is commercially viable.

Neither of the above have happened (note: the price of oil has little impact on the price of electricity since - last time I checked -oil accounts for about 2% of our electrical generation capabilities. Mainly we use coal, hydro, and nuclear - in that order, I think).

Another issue:
Solar power isn't really clean either, and it certainly isn't renewable. Solar cells are manufactured from non-renewable materials (and solar cells have to be replaced). And, if you want to use solar power as a complete solution, you have to use batteries - a solution which would have its own toxic waste problems.

Answer 2

I'm not up on the technical details, but I do know that we will not be using it commercially on any significant scale until the costs come down to close enough to what we currently use (coal fired, oil fired, nuclear) that it will be worthwhile to invest in it. There have been experiments, and it's very possible the countries with a lot of open spaces (deserts, for example) may be able to use large arrays, but solar will mostly be important for getting off the grid. People can put enough solar panels on their roof to support their family's needs once a battery or other storage system is developed that makes it feasible to simply not bother to connect to the grid at all. Some can do it now, using the solar energy to heat water that is then used as a storage of energy. It depends on where you live. And the cost of photovoltaic cells (the ones that don't need the water circulation system) is coming down all the time.

Answer 3

Remember, the sun's energy is spread out over wide area. You have to trap a wide area of solar radiation to get any useful power. Usually it is focused to a small target to capture some of the energy. Solar power is not an answer by itself for energy problems.

However the roofs of most houses have enough area to heat the house. This is the best commercial application of solar energy to date. The energy is reflected back on most houses and just heats the air outside. The best possible scenario is solar collectors with a storage media to hold the heat until needed.

The US has been dabbling in solar energy since the 70's

Answer 4

Solar energy is being used commercially. In the south west of the US there are large areas of solar collectors used to make electricity for cities. There are many devices with solar cells.Many satellites run on solar energy. It is just not commercially available in all climates.

Answer 5

There are several very large commercial facilities around, but not enough ro provide a significant amount of our energy. The biggest limiting factors are the cost and inefficiency of solar cells. There are new cells under development that solve these problems, but none are available yet.

Answer 6

Almost sure that you must find everything related solar power at www.greensolarwho.info.

Answer 7

Well gas will hit $50 a gallow at the pumps some time this year at the present rate, so what do you call expensive.

Answer 8

My goal is to have every house off the grid and self powered.It will be this way in 10,000 years so why not start now.

Answer 9

What's your Source (Optional)

Answer 10

dont know...try google.com