« The totality of these unforeseen costs could crush industry competitiveness. If we plot future installations according to a logistic growth curve capped at 700 GW by 2050 (NREL’s estimated ceiling for the U.S. residential market) alongside the early replacement curve, we see the volume of waste surpassing that of new installations by the year 2031. By 2035, discarded panels would outweigh new units sold by 2.56 times. In turn, this would catapult the LCOE (levelized cost of energy, a measure of the overall cost of an energy-producing asset over its lifetime) to four times the current projection. The economics of solar — so bright-seeming from the vantage point of 2021 — would darken quickly as the industry sinks under the weight of its own trash. »
Perhaps California should recommision Diablo Canyon Power Plant. Not just that this nuclear power plant would help stabilize the base load of the Californian grid. DCPP only used water from the Pacific Ocean which it desalinated in its own desal plant. This desal plant was licensed to produce 1.5 million gallons a day of which during operation it only used 675,000 gallons. The surplus back then and now could be transported to the utilities or agriculture.