The Daily Dialectics

SOLAR FEASIBILITY | The Daily Dialectics

Aerial view of a large solar energy farm with circular solar panels capturing sunlight

Synopsis

the worlds energy consumption and what we are potentially facing. requiring 1 billon panels @ a cost of $300 per 250 W Panel Totaling $3 trillion requiring a to

the worlds energy consumption and what we are potentially facing. requiring 1 billon panels @ a cost of $300 per 250 W Panel Totaling $3 trillion requiring a total land mass of 6.3K acres:

a scale of 1MW 250W poly-Si panels @ 80% efficiency 1MW=1,000,000 Watt 1,000,000W/(250W×0.8) = 1,000,000W/200W≈,5000W =v 100 panels × 50 rows = 5000 panels 2.5m×1m per panel @ 30 deg angle 5000 panels/ 12500 M^2 per 1MW (43560.04 sqft/acre)* (1 sqM/10.76 sq ft) = 4048.33 M^2/acre (4048 M^2/acre) * 3000 acre = 12,144,000 M^2 12,144,000 M^2 * (5000 panels/ 12500 M^2) = 4,857,600 Panels 4,857,600 Panels * $299/ Panel = $1,457,280,000 4,857,600 Panels / (1MW/5000 panel) = 971 MW/ (1000KW/MW)*971 MW = 971,000 KW 971,000 KW*(365 days * 24 hours) = 8,505,960,000 KWh/yr 2015 Kwh/yr US consumption is 3,911,000,000,000 KWh/yr (18,505,960,000 KWh/yr) / (3,911,000,000,000 KWh/yr) = 0.474 % annual Consumption for the US Theoretically to produce enough just for the total US consumption: 100/.474 = 211.34 x original scale 211.34 * 4,857,600 Panels = 1,026,605,184 211.34 * $1,457,280,000 = $ 307,977,650,443.42 211.34 * 3000 acre = 634, 020 acres Size of Texas = 15,770,000,000 acres 15,770,000,000 acres / 634, 020 acres = 0.004 % of Texas

It would require 1,026,605,184 panels @ a cost of 299 per 250 W Panel Totaling $307,977,650,443.42 requiring a total land mass of 634,020 acres, 0.004 % of Texas, to replace the 3,911,000,000,000 KWh/yr energy consumption of the US. This is strictly the cost of the panels at market price .

Global Energy consumption is around 21,000,000,000,000 KWh/yr (21,776,000,000,000 KWh/yr)/ (3,911,000,000,000 KWh/yr) = 5.56 scale of US cons It would require 5,716,020,068 panels @ a cost of 299 per 250 W Panel Totaling $1,712,355,736,465 requiring a total land mass of 3,525,151 acres, 0.0223% of Texas, to replace the 21,776,000,000,000 KWh/yr energy consumption of the US.

This is strictly the cost of the panels at market price. You’ll need to factor in the cost of Power Grids, Installation of over 1 Billion Panels, Maintenance Per year, as well as necessary infrastructure such as automated rotation systems for max efficiency, etc.

Also, I feel as if Im off By A Factor of 4.. Ive run these numbers multiple times before and came to a total of 7.5 trill for the panels. If anybody feels like checking the math, please do. Ill check it later on if not.

1) Space required for 1 MW of power 2) the cost per sq ft solar panel 3) cost of solar panels Total Annual Energy Consumption: 4) Total Annual Energy Consumption

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