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And what other problem with solar power is there besides cost?

The other problem is geometry. The Sun will deliver 1.3 kW per square metre at noon, so at the efficiency level of today's technology (~15% IIRC) and the fact that the peak power is only collected for a few hours per day, a roof-sized panel will not be enough to power the home on which it is installed. That being said, if the cost can be brought down enough then it would pay for itself in savings on hydro bills and as a bonus it would reduce the load on the grid and potentially make the grid more resilient if the utility buys surplus power.

Geometry and storage of intermittent solar power translate into costs of replacement power, capital costs, and O & M costs of equipment. Don’t forget that government subsidies cost twice: 1) the wealth to transfer comes from somewhere; 2) the market distortions caused by the resulting faulty price signal.

If zero-cost solar cells were available, all these other costs would have to be taken into account and compared to the cost of burning coal or oil. But this is exactly the same economic issues with respect to nuclear power, a source that it was supposed to be so free it would not be worthwhile to meter. Now we know that this free power source is crippled by the capital, regulator compliance and security costs. Consuming $5-10 billion to build a plant producing free power is not free. Even so, it can be costed out given a model of consumption. And that is exactly what happens.

With solar, by definition, we will have to have a mirror capacity to replace the power when the sun doesn’t shine enough. Since that replacement plant only runs part of the day, instead of recovering the capital costs over a 24x7 production period of power sales, it will have to be recovered for the times it is used. This only means one thing: a higher cost per KWH. We pay for the production capacity twice, even if daylight power is “free”, and even if the replacement power comes from big batteries charged by sunlight.

We are going to have to be told quite often how great solar power is so that when we get our utility bill, we won’t fell the pain of writing the bigger check as much as we rationally should. But we are dealing with government, and leftist media, so rationality is not part of this discussion.

“... a roof-sized panel will not be enough to power the home on which it is installed.”

This is true for apartment buildings or condos, but rarely true for single family residences. The average home requires about 660sf of panels to produce 1,000kwh per month. Most single family homes have more than enough roof area.