Why has the price of solar energy remained generally prohibitive?
Question:
Answer:
Basically because it is really weak, so you need a lot of "stuff" to collect enough of it. You need hundreds of square feet of collectors in bright sunlight, and more on a cloudy day, to make the same amount of power as a portable generator no bigger than a large suitcase. Also, the "stuff" you need to collect it is not cheap. Silicon solar cells are not very efficient and require expensive ultra-pure materials and high temperature, high vacuum equipment to produce. Steam engines using heat from mirrors require a lot of maintenance and intelligent operator control. But I think the biggest obstacle is that sunlight is not available 24/7 and there is no good way to store the energy for use at night. Batteries don't store enough energy and wear out too quickly, as well as being full of toxic chemicals. Fuel cells are as difficult and expensive to manufacture as silicon solar cells. One promising technology that may become available in 10 years or so are super capacitors made with carbon nanotubes that can store as much electricity as a battery without the problems of wearing out after 5 years of use. But as with any new technology, it will be expensive, at least at first.
because for making solar panes you need electronic grade Silica (Si 99.9999+%) and that cost a lot of money to prepare. So photovoltaic panels cost a lot of money.
BUT
Some scientist are preparing more and more efficient ORGANIC photovoltaic panels (without silica), they could be mass producted with less money. however for now organic photovoltaic panels are just a curiosity for scientist.
Because the oil companies - who bought up all the patents on solar tech - want it that way.
Solar energy varies night and day, seasonally (summer winter) and day-to-day depending on clouds. As such, the solar energy must be stored (as heat or in a battery) or supplemented by other sources. The question always is whether the particular solar energy device is cost effective relative to other sources. Some houses are designed to passively use solar energy with little extra construction costs. You can open your drapes on a cold sunny day and use solar energy for free. Soon there may be available cheaper flexible photovoltaic solar cells that could shingle your house (or factory) reducing your need for other sources.
Because of the relatively small number of units produced. Production costs per unit go way down as the numbers produced go up. Having many sales encourages a lot of sellers, with resultant benefits of competition.
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