Advantages of Solar Energy – Declining Cost the Biggest One

Solar Energy is the only form of Energy whose costs are continuously declining compared to other forms of Energy.This is one of the biggest advantages of Solar Power over other renewable and non-renewable forms of energy.Solar Energy costs have declined by over 50% in the last 2-3 years even as Coal,Oil,Gas and other Energy costs have gone up.While Wind Energy costs have declined in  the last year the overall trend is increasing as the costs of copper and steel go up.This is one of the main reasons why solar energy demand has gone up by 150% in 2010.With solar costs going down by another 10% each year over the next few years,expect Solar Energy to grow at a further fast rate in the future as well after growing at 50% CAGR over the last decade.Here are some of the advantages of Solar Energy over other non-renewable energy forms

1) Environment Friendly – Solar Energy does not lead to any major mining activity,does not lead to significant GHG emissions,does not lead to health hazards like thermal power

2) Declining Costs – Solar Costs are declining at a rapid pace and are rapidly approaching grid parity in most parts of the world.The use of semiconductor techniques ensures that the costs should continue to decline in the future as well

3)No Fuel and Low Maintainance – Solar Energy does not require any fuel like Wind Energy and the Operation and Maintainance Costs are extremely low.This is a huge advantage in these days when gas and oil disruptions are causing energy insecurity.Libya,Russia are all examples

4) No Pollution and Deaths- Solar Energy does not lead to pollution disasters like the BP Oil Spill and Coal Deaths which are directly related to Dirty Energy Productionl.

5) Almost Unlimited Potential – Solar Energy Potential is almost infinite compared to the limited and peak features of other forms of  energy like Wind,Geothermal,Oil,Gas and others.Only Nuclear Energy has potential similar to Solar Energy

6) Size Advantages – Solar Installations can be installed in various sizes with as little as 200 Watts and as big as a 1000 MW.This is not possible for other energy forms which require a minimum large size such as Coal,Nuclear etc.

7) Quick Installation – Solar Energy can be installed very quickly.Small residential installations can be installed in as low as 3 days.This is much faster compared to other  energy sources

8) Grid Independent – Solar Energy finds the most use in non-grid areas where it can be installed with batteries for energy storage.It is a much cheaper form of energy for non-grid applications than other forms.It is giving competition to Diesel Gensets being used.

Solar Energy will see massive growth in the future which has led to most of the MNC conglomerates getting  into this sector.TSMC,GE,Siemens,Areva,Toshiba,AUO,Honda are some of the companies making large investments into solar energy.

Useful Related Author Links

Which is the Lowest Cost Solar Panel Manufacturer in the World

List of World’s Major Solar Energy Companies

List of Top 15 Global Solar Thin Film Companies – Who will Survive and Who Won’t

List of Top MNC Conglomerates (Toshiba,LG,TSMC,GE) getting into Solar Energy- Growing Continuously