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.