Farming the solar’s vitality – Science News, April 8, 1972
More and extra scientists and engineers are starting to imagine that photo voltaic conversion will account for a good portion of the world’s future energy wants.… What has modified the ambiance recently is … the potential for placing collectively large-scale items, solar-energy “farms” that may compete with energy stations within the megawatt vary and better.
Update
Solar vitality manufacturing within the United States ramped up as photo voltaic panels turned cheaper to fabricate and extra environment friendly at producing electrical energy (SN: 3/1/08, p. 133). Since the primary U.S. solar energy plant opened in 1982, hundreds extra have been constructed, bringing the nation’s photo voltaic capability immediately to greater than 100 gigawatts. In 2021, photo voltaic vitality made up almost 3 p.c of the electrical energy produced within the United States. And the long run is trying vibrant: Solar vitality and storage is projected to account for greater than 60 p.c of the U.S. energy grid’s new producing capability from 2022 by means of 2023, in accordance with the U.S. Energy Information Administration.