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Renewable Energy Sources  
 

3.4 ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS


The major obstacles encountered in the commercialisation of solar systems are economic, resulting from the high cost of the equipment needed to collect and store solar energy. Some challenges that must be overcome are inherent in the nature of solar radiation:

· It is relatively low in intensity, rarely exceeding 950 W/m2 so large collecting areas must be used when large amounts of energy are needed.

· It is intermittent because of

a) the inevitable variation in solar radiation intensity from zero at sunrise to a maximum at noon and back to zero at sunset
b) unpredictable interruptions because of clouds, rain, snow, hail or dust.


· Some means of energy storage must be provided at night and during periods of low solar irradiation.

 

Sun In Action is a major study (ref 3.8) carried out by ESTIF (European Solar Thermal Industry Federation), from which some edited extracts are reproduced below.