Toward a Solar-Powered Grid

This article describes selected results from a study examining some of the benefits and challenges of meeting up to 20% of U.S. electricity demand with solar technologies. The discussion in this article will focus on the "20% scenario," which is part of the larger ongoing study of the barriers to large scale deployment of solar energy. (The larger study being conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Energy Technology Program with contributions from a large number of individuals in industry and academia is tentatively titled the Solar Vision study.) This is not intended to be a detailed integration study. Results to date, however, provide a preliminary examination of the issues associated with deploying solar energy on a large scale in the United States.