generation density is THE most important metric for solar, and the reason why it simply CANNOT be the “backbone”, ever. There is an absolute, hard, unyielding limit of approximately 1kw/m^2. That is the energy density of the sun’s emissions striking the earth perpendicularly. Now let’s factor in capture efficiency, and we’ll give solar a bonus assuming advancement in that area up to 30%. Now half of that away for night time. I don’t know what the average loss is for clouds/weather, but there definitely IS one. Half again sounds reasonable to me, but let’s go super generous and say 80%. We’re now down to 120 WATTS per square meter. At noon, in the summer. Haven’t factored in ANY of the engineering and social factors like NIMBY, the massive battery farms you’re going to need, etc.
I LIKE using solar/wind/hydro/whatever else when and where appropriate. Entire national grids ain’t it. Usually, the economics would guide this. But that doesn’t really work for the energy sector, because the scales are being not just thumbed, but mashed into the dirt for political and social reasons. renewable is “crushing” it right now because the governments have chosen it. It gets showered with incentives and subsidies, while nuclear and fossil are buried in regulation that the operators are made to pay for. Not just the cost of compliance, but literally the regulatory bodies themselves. No, “greedy corporations” are not what is driving the choice. At least here in the US, utilities are SO tightly regulated that essentially the government sets the price and profit margin.