Germany already tried this... It’s not working.
How does one get the solar produced power from Texas or wherever to, let’s say Maryland (or Alaska, or Hawaii)?
You don’t just produce electricity at one point and have endless supplies at the farthest point.
No battery configuration can hold that much energy, even one that covers a square mile. The US consumes 40 billion kWh per day, every day... and with just one short cloudy or stormy period of 3-5 days, the issues multiply... not to mention the very very poor idea of putting all US power in one (easily targeted) location... and not to mention that government will then decide to take over the facility and decide who gets how much electricity and when (”for Social Justice”)...
Not having access to his assumptions I am skeptical of his statement regarding the area involved. However, assuming the numbers are correct, how much will it cost co cover every square inch of 10,000 square miles of Nevada? The area involved is larger than New Hampshire and only slightly smaller than Massachusetts. The structural cost alone would be mindboggling. Earth based solar power on the best day has a capacity factor of 50%. If, for example, you need to supply 1000 megawatts to meet demand, with solar you need to install 2000 megawatts capacity to assure the demand is met.
It gets worse, you need expensive (very) batteries to average out the delivery rate at night, and then you need to covert the DC electricity from the photovoltaic cells and batteries to AC for use on the grid. The batteries and converters have efficiency losses built into them. These inefficiencies generate waste heat that must be rejected. Sensitive electronics, batteries, and the DC/AC converters must be kept cool in the Nevada desert, adding additional drain on the power that can put on the grid.
Actual cost information for installation and maintenance of large-scale solar power is hard to come by (deliberately?). However, if solar is truly competitive with fossil or nuclear power, why aren’t major utilities falling all over themselves to build large-scale projects? The answer of course is that without various taxpayer subsidies it is not economically viable, and those subsidies are at the whim of the state and Federal governments.
If you did that you wouldn’t put them all in one place. You would distribute them. Maybe 10 or more. Each one 10x10 miles. But then you would still have distribution losses.
I love the idea of solar power. I wish it was cost effective and if it were market based I’m all in.
If this is such a great idea then why haven’t the socialist countries already done it?
Everyone gets something except the Taxpayers, they get the Shaft and the Bill
I am more than a bit concerned bout Musk’s lack of knowledge. HIs statement is absurd as he simply does not take into account of line transmission loss.
Energy sources currently need to be reasonably close to energy consumers.
Solar panels that need to be replaced every 10 to 20 years.
And a billion tons of batteries filled with caustic material with a life span of a couple of years.
And see what happens when you try to transmit enough power to run the east coast over wire from a solar array 2,000 miles away.
If it is such a great idea Musk should have no problem rounding up private investors to build it and reap the profit.
That’s what inventors and innovators did 100 years ago.
Now they develop schemes to get their hands in taxpayers pockets.
Tesla autos would be in the toilet tomorrow without government subsidies paid for with money extorted from taxpayers.
This is exactly what Stanford Ovskinsky said nearly 4 decades ago, that 5% of the state of Arizona could power the entire U.S. It is much less than that now.
Let’s SWAG a few objective numbers here, hysteria side.
Absolute physical upper limit of solar energy is 1300 watts per square meter.
Very pessimistic efficiency average 24/7/365 is 1%.
Assuming a 3TW need, that’s a pessimistic 300 mile square, including a stationary PV panel and 312 W/hr storage per square meter.
Being a mere SWAG, that’s about on par with Musk’s numbers. Applying real research we can easily meet those numbers.
At off-the-shelf small-volume costs that caps at $1/W, a cheap cost to replace the entire electrical supply. Bonus: it’s highly distributable, located locally at <0.16 acres per person (addressing distribution issues).
Musk jumped on the 0bozo gravy train early on and is making every effort to continue to suck at the Federal Tit. The sooner we dispose of subsidized hucksters, the sooner we can Make America Great Again!
“...it would take a fairly small corner of Nevada...”
______________________________________________________
Ah HA!
So THAT’S why they wanted to force the Bundy’s off their land, and the other 49 rancher/farmers who were removed before them.
(Only a partial “sarc”).
Tax Parasite Has Plan to Allow Himself to Eat Up More Taxes.
PS. If you don’t like Elon, then you’re just racist against lying, thieving proglodytes.
Per DOE, solar power provides ( drum roll) .4% of American energy. Good luck, Elon.
The United States is 3.797 million mi²
Something doesn’t add up.
God already figured out how to store energy. Natural gas, carbon rich oil deposits, vast frozen stores of methane, hydrogen from sea water. Solar and wind? Old school and will never be consistent. We may as well orbit some satellites and allow them to drag “brushes” around the magnetic field of Earth. Imagine the power that could be produced by that solar generator, but at what cost?
Admittedly, we have a reputation here on FR of commenting without reading the article, but jeeze, this is on the first line - “has a new solar roof panel division.” He is not talking about paving the desert with them. He is talking about covering roofs with them. He just used a visual example that clearly was beyond the average FReeper’s understanding.
All the eggs in one basket proposition???
Musk: The robots are coming! The robots are coming!