Will Solar Panels Generate Enough Energy To Sustain The World

A single solar farm large but contained to a single u s.

Will solar panels generate enough energy to sustain the world. Currently solar photovoltaic technology makes up 55 percent of all renewable power capacity and it will continue to boom according to a 2018 reporton the state of renewable energy. This is about the size of spain although as the author notes the sahara desert alone is 18 times the required size so lack of available land shouldn t be a problem. A 10kw solar system which consists of 40 panels can produce an average of 14 000 kwh per year. Clean energy investments in some of these countries rose 36 to 131bn with nations like brazil south africa and india showing impressive leads regarding the use of solar energy plants.

You will need a roof space of about 680 sq ft for a 10kw system. Now if we cover an area of the earth 335 kilometers by 335 kilometers with solar panels even with moderate efficiencies achievable easily today it will provide more than 17 4 tw power. State could produce enough energy to power the nation s entire grid. Joe raedle getty images let s talk about elon musk and solar farms.

Solar is driven by rapid expansion particularly in developing countries as it is gradually gaining stance as the most desirable option for securing power. Return to how do solar panels work. Keep in mind that the amount of power your solar system can produce depends on how much sunlight your roof receives and your location. It is technically possible to achieve almost 100 renewable energy sources within the next four decades concludes the world wildlife federation s wwf 2011 energy report which sees wind solar biomass and hydropower as the future major players.

At 2 8 acres per gwh then about 11 200 000 acres of land would give us what we need to produce the 4 000 000 gwh of solar power. There s 1 8 billion acres of land in the usa so about 0 6 of our land is all it would take.