The Next Step in Solar

Photovoltaic Solar may be the posterchild of renewable energy, yet it has always had its share of drawbacks. For one, it is an inconsistent source of energy (what do you do on a cloudy day or at night?) and one whose total generating capacity is still insufficient to meet large-scale demand.  These drawbacks and expense are due to technological shortcomings associated with solar being a relatively young technology. It's energy and cost efficiency will only improve with time, especially as more countries invest in it and more research is done.

A PV Solar array, Credit

William Flanagan, CEO of VARTA Microbattery, writes on what he believes will bring solar one step closer to becoming an ideal power source: battery storage. He notes that solar has grown by 418%, gaining 9,731 MW of generating capacity, in the last four years in the US. Yet, even with these investments in solar, only 1.13% of energy generated in the US is solar. Flanagan remains hopeful that, as the technology for solar continues to develop, so too will more consumers opt for sun-power.

Flanagan's solution to the intermittent nature of solar is simple: find a way to store it during the times without sunlight. The answer? Batteries. While solar and battery combinations have not become a major focus for various reasons, combining the two has been proven to work for remote, off-the-grid customers.

Batteries combined with PV arrays may allow for energy savings, efficiency, and independence, Credit

Flanagan writes that developments in solar have not been deeply explored as of yet because we Americans still have faith in traditional fossil-fuels and their ability to give us continuous, inexpensive energy. However, coal plants are slowly being decommissioned and not being replaced due to clean air requirements. Subsequently, energy is costing more and customers are concerned about intermittentcy should another climate change-caused super storm roll around. Consumers want energy that is affordable, constant, and increasingly green, and so grid operators cross the country are working to promote energy efficiency and solar storage. Battery technology and chemistry is advancing as well, and it seems that "storage is an energy technology whose time has come — particularly when combined with solar systems".

While Flanagan proposes a very logical argument for solar development, his article makes me question the overall impact of a combined PV and battery system. While in theory both the solar panel and the lithium battery can be recycled to create a closed loop production cycle, this may not be the practice. We can hope that as solar grows more common, the panel manufacturers and independent waste companies will develop ways to recycle and reuse the entire panel. Yet, as it stands now, it seems that solar is currently in a linear production pattern and that recycling is not prevalent.

Combining un-recyclable arrays with lithium batteries and implementing it throughout America may be a recipe for disaster because of the economic nature of lithium. This metal is itself non-renewable, yet once the lithium reaches the end of its product lifecycle, it most certainly will not be recycled. Although lithium is 100% recyclable, "recycled lithium is as much as five times the cost of lithium produced from the least costly brine based process."  To compound this lack of recycling, 70% of deposits sit below the undisturbed forests and lush mountains of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile, which ensures environmental degradation for years to come.

While renewables like solar are often heralded as the salvation from the evils of fossil fuels, we must think critically about their reality. Surely solar's lack of GHG emissions makes them more innocent that fossil fuels in the long run, yet I will not call solar saintly until it boasts a highly efficient, closed-loop production system. Sometimes energy choices feel like picking the lesser of two evils; which one would you chose?