Thread by @solar_chase

Since everyone is doing it: if you want an #unpopularopinion *about #solar power, give me a like.
* not guaranteed unpopular

1. Solar PV is too simple, the barriers to entry too low, for almost any large company to grow profitably over a long period.

2. Utilities & regulators need to start considering power tariffs that disincentivise consumer solar, and encourage power use at midday.

3. Solar is not a natural complement to household batteries. The grid exists for a reason, people, and big batteries are cheaper than small.

4. The social value of solar is not interesting. A kWh is a kWh, it only depends what it replaces and costs, not how it makes you feel.

5. Nuclear may be needed to get non-equatorial countries w/o hydro resources onto a zero-CO2 solar, wind, battery, etc mix. Nuclear > coal.

6. Thin film will be extinct by 2040, despite the sterling execution by First Solar of every plan it has ever made.

7. Humans might be extinct too. I am a techno-optimist on solar energy, but our progress is consistent with numerous extinction scenarios.

8. Solar tender prices below $35/MWh for delivery in the next two years are speculative gambles or contain undisclosed kickback terms.

9. Many solar project developers complaining their problem is 'finance' are being disingenuous. Their problem is, their project is rubbish.

10. Traded electricity wholesale markets are the worst way of dispatching energy resources, except for all the others that have been tried.

11. All solar panels are kinda ugly, even fancy ones. It's OK. Every work of the hand of man is kinda ugly. Function is what matters.

12. Putting PV on your house is a morally neutral choice, though it may be economically rational. Cutting consumption is more praiseworthy.

13. All forecasts of solar deployment have been too low, and will continue to be too low. Solar developers are really good at what they do.

14. ...Unfortunately what solar developers do is deploy solar, not necessarily make money, but so far there are always more keen investors.

15. Operation and maintenance in desert environments will prove more challenging than PV project stakeholders expect.

16. The more a solar company's pitch is about the enviro-social value of solar in general, the more likely it is to be a dodgy company.

17. Countries that have built little solar to date are not "losing" to high-solar countries. They wisely waited for a bargain on price!

18. Building-integrated PV products are usually attempts to sell bad solar products for premium prices to gullible aesthetes and architects.

19. Job creation from solar will be less than solar advocates forecast. Relatedly, solar cost will be lower than anyone currently forecasts.

20. Offgrid solar will be driven by people wanting TVs more than by people wanting their kids to have light to do homework.

21. Market size estimates for solar, including ours, are probably not accurate to within +/- 20%.

22. Tower solar thermal electricity generation plants will continue to technically underperform and will eventually stop being built.

23. A small rise in the global cost of debt would cause several years of depression in the solar industry.

24. Floating solar is not a new technology. It is solar onna boat.

25. The PV-EV connection only exists if you have net metering or work from home.

Thanks all for your surprising interest! I do not wish to disappoint you with popular solar opinions, so will sleep on a few more.

26. PV module efficiency is not, to a first order approximation, important. Cost per W is. (You get second order effects on system cost).

27. Governments who ran solar tenders need to be firm about nondelivery penalties, to limit future unrealistic bidding. Re-tendering is OK!