1. The Sun's energy (heat and light) is not available at night on the Earth. The solution around has been to store the energy generated during day in batteries, which are however the weakest link in the system (poor life and efficiency)
2. Generating electricity from Solar PV (photo-voltaic) technology requires a lot of surface area and hence a lot of land. This is also tied with the fact that the commercially available Solar cells are less than 20% efficient. Lower the efficiency, bigger the land area required. In small countries like Singapore, this is a huge disadvantage.3. Lack of good efficiency Solar cells and technologies mean that there is a lot of wastage. Hence even though the Sun is the most abundant source of energy, converting this all into electricity becomes a challenge.
4. Most of the Solar technology employed today is as good as it was 30 years ago. Over the past 30 years, no major technological breakthrough has happened in the field of Solar Energy use.5. Solar PV cells operate better in cooler temperatures. Usually heat and sunlight go together and hence preserving the efficiency is a challenge.
6. DC electric power produced by Solar PV cells has to be converted to AC before use with conventional systems, appliances and grids.
7. Solar power system might usually mean high initial investment although the running costs are very low.8. Solar power struggles to justify its place today using conventional economic calculations, which happily ignore the ill-effects on the environment and permanent climate change problems.
9. Researchers, scientists and engineers are divided over developing the best renewable energy source (Sun, wind, biomass, fuel cells). This diffusion of attention breeds challenge for Solar Energy, which is the simplest and single most source of eternal energy in our system. Instead of applying creativity to solve the above problems, some scientists have been busy proving their worth with complicated forms that are 'not-so-renewable' really.10. There is a serious lack of awareness and adoption of Solar Energy at the common man's level.
Overcoming this challenges is going to be an exciting journey for the supporters of Solar Energy.
See attached commentary (listen to the audio) that puts the point across very eloquently.
Some other challenges:
ReplyDelete* Most people are too busy dealing with the problems of day to day survival to be concerned with the headache of a long range investment like solar energy.
* Fossil fuel oil corporations, who control our economy are doing all they can to discourage the proliferation of alternative energies.
* We have become addicted to fossil fuel energy concentrates the way a child becomes addicted to candy.
source: http://www.jc-solarhomes.com/solar_energy_facts.htm