What Are the Disadvantages of Solar Energy?
There is a disadvantage in that solar cells can only collect energy in the daytime; the sunnier the better. However, the technology to store that energy & hold it for times when it is not collected is improving over time. So it is not a major disadvantage as it once was. At the moment it is more practical for sunnier regions to make use of solar energy than less sunny regions. Supposedly, the less sunny regions could make use of solar energy on much smaller scales using when possible but supplementing with other technologies when it is not available or not enoug. Perhaps now that we have an administration that is interested in encouraging alternate sources of energy to be researched & developed, solar energy will get to a point where it can be developed for more practical uses. Many homes in regions across the globe capture & store solar energy via solar panels. The are effectively ‘off the grid’ for much of the year. The “disadvantage” is the start up costs. The current energy infrast
I’ll try to keep my answer semi-brief. Fossil fuels are the result of solar energy over millions of years; only we are withdrawing that bank account of carbon over the period of a century. There are no disadvantages, except the ones we place upon ourselves. Yes, there are seasons, rainy/cloudy days, dirt/pollen that would build upon collectors, but if the Sun didn’t come up tomorrow morning… then we’d really have a problem. There needs to be more developments to storing the energy at nighttime. Lead-acid/sealed batteries seems OK for a house/complex. A heated saline solution seems interesting locally. In my opinion, there should be a global energy conduit as suggested by Buckminster Fuller. So, I believe there are no disadvantages to solar, only getting over our short-lived ways of thinking and lifestyle.
Your question is maybe a bit too vague in the sense that there are many forms of solar power. PV (photovoltaic) panels for the roof Utility scale PV, usually on the ground Concentrating PV (CPV) both utility scale and smaller distributed systems. Solar thermal power plants of which there are three basic types. They harness the heat from the sun to drive a steam generator, instead of converting sunlight directly into electricity like PV does. There is even a new (CPV) concentrating solar PV system from an Israeli company that harnesses the hot water from cooling the solar cells, thus producing hot water and electricity. Concentrating PV solar cells get too hot when not cooled because the sunlight is intensified with lenses or parabolic mirrors about 1,000 fold. Solar thermal (also called CSP) uses mirrors or lenses like CPV to concentrate sunlight. It can provide day and night power by storing heat in the form of molten salt, water, oils or other medium. It can provide steady base load
