The Week
The total solar energy hitting Earth each year is equivalent to 12.2 trillion watt-hours. That's over 20,000 times more than the total energy all of humanity consumes each year. And yet photovoltaic solar panels, the instruments that convert solar
radiation into electricity, produce only 0.7 percent of the energy the world uses. So what gives?
For one, cost: The U.S. Department of Energy
estimates an average cost of $156.90 per megawatt-hour for solar, while
conventional coal costs an average of $99.60 per MW/h, nuclear costs an
average of $112.70 per MW/h, and various forms of natural gas cost
between $65.50 and $132 per MW/h. So from an economic standpoint, solar
is still uncompetitive.
