There are many advantages to having solar energy in your home or business; while I am an advocate of solar energy today, I will share with you 7 disadvantages of solar energy so that you are aware of them.
7 Disadvantages Of Solar Energy
Here are 7 disadvantages of solar energy you should be aware of.
It produces intermittent energy
Solar panels will produce electricity only when there is a sun, when it is dark or on cloud days the amount of electricity produced will vary.
Temperature affects the efficiency of solar panels. In environments with high temperatures, the panels will produce less electricity.
Factors like shadows, the direction of the sun, and dirtiness also contribute to this.
To combat this intermittency, we recommend having a grid-tied solar panel system. This is cool and everything, but it has its own drawback: It will only work when there is grid electricity; if there is not grid electricity, it will stop working.
Another solution is to have a standalone system backed up with batteries, but this is the most expensive solar energy system.
The batteries cost a lot of money, and in my experience, they can account for up to 60% of the total cost of the project. Most people can not afford this.
Geographic Limitations
You can not install solar panels and generate energy in all places around the globe. The issue is that some places get sun for less than three months a year, and some areas do not get sun at all or just a few hours per day.
These geographical limitations prevent solar energy from being available to everyone.
Also, there are issues in high-temperature areas, as we know that solar panels’ efficiency is lower, and the temperature increases.
Although this issue can be solved by installing solar panels with lower temperature coefficients, again, these types of solar energy cost more, hence the cost of the installation goes up.
High initial installation costs
To be honest with you, installing solar panels at your home could be easy among the top three expenses in your lifetime: buying the house, buying a new car, and installing solar panels.
For a family home, this investment may go up to $22000.
This is a lot of money for a low-income family, so it is very difficult for middle to lower-class families to have solar energy on their roofs.
The good news is that many governments and states can offer grants and tax rebates to help reduce installation costs.
Storage Challenges
At the time of writing, the main challenge in solar energy is creating batteries that can store solar energy for a long time.
As we stated earlier, some areas can not get sun for 3 to 9 months. In order for them to have solar energy, they will need batteries that are capable of storing electricity for 3 to 9 months.
The technologies we have today do not allow us to store electricity for that time, so it is impossible to install solar panels in those areas.
Also, remember, even if we had the technology, buying solar batteries is still very expensive, which most people could not afford anyway.
Environmental Concerns
Solar energy is often touted as a clean and green energy source, but environmental concerns are still associated with its use.
Firstly, producing solar panels requires using hazardous materials such as lead, cadmium, and gallium arsenide, which can be harmful to the environment if not disposed of properly.
While efforts are being made to recycle and reuse these materials, the process is still not entirely sustainable.
Reliability Issues
Solar panels rely heavily on weather conditions to produce energy. They depend on the sun’s availability, temperature range, shadow, dust and debris around them, and the sun’s tilt angle.
These factors make them unreliable in many applications, such as the manufacturing industry, hospitals, and others.
The solution for this is to combine solar panel systems with grid systems. This solution will require you to get more permissions to connect to the grid network and a net meter.
Another solution would be to use batteries, but this solution will cost you more money as batteries are very expensive.
Limited lifespan
Most solar installers will tell you that installing solar panels will provide electricity for the rest of your life, but this is not entirely true.
Most solar panels have a warranty of 20 to 30 years; they might stop working after a certain time.
Even though I know this is a long period, and most solar installation projects have a return on investment of between 7 to 10 years ( that is 15 years of free electricity), I think it is very important to consider this factor before going solar.
Key Takeaway: 7 Disadvantages Of Solar Energy
Those are the 7 disadvantages of solar energy you should be aware of. I am not saying that solar panels are bad or bad investments; this is just to make you aware of the potential issues so that you can be informed before making the decision.
If you are considering going solar, please read this post. It contains important questions you should ask solar companies to minimize the risks of going solar.
