Solar will never amount to squat. When I took physics we had a problem, “Assuming 100% efficiency in converting available energy in sunlight to electricity how much surface area would be required to power the US?”. This was in the ‘70s. Answer? Every square inch of the state of Texas.
A 100% solar country would be very different. Welding? Thing of the past. Recycled aluminum? Are you kidding? Anyone with a brain knows solar is Unicorn crap. Then again, we’re talking Americans. 100 years ago Americans would have been ashamed to be so dumb.
Actual USA electricity generation in 2012 of 4,047.7 Terawatt hours. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_of_the_United_States
Divide by 365*24 and get 462 Gigawatts per hour 462,000,000,000 watts
Area of Texas = 268,820 mi² or (696,241 km²) 696,241,000,000 square meters
The standard solar panel has an input rate of around 1000 Watts per square meter.
Now; do the math...