Production of renewables has, in fact, increased by 10x several times over, and is still increasing as costs continue on down. Storage will not be in batteries

Production of renewables has, in fact, increased by 10x several times over, and is still increasing as costs continue on down. Storage will not be in batteries, so it doesn't matter what production rate of batteries is. Huge amounts of pumped hydro are being built out right now. Bulk storage will be in synthetic chemicals, principally anhydrous ammonia and hydrogen, which besides being storable, are both readily transportable and valuable as industrial feedstock. > implies needing other sources of power for when the sun isn't shining in the wind is not blowing The sun is always shining somewhere, and the wind is always blowing somewhere. So, you just need to be equipped to transport the energy from somewhere to here. That will probably be, most often, via high-voltage transmission line, but also via supertanker. Absent transmission lines, you only need to stockpile enough to hold out until a shipment arrives from the tropics. Recycling solar panels is not being done at scale because very few panels have aged out, yet. There is, furthermore, a ready market for panels with degraded output. In any case, even if they were just piled up somewhere, that is no more a problem than doing the same thing with eroded wind turbine blades. There is plenty of room to park as much of them as you like. They don't even need a roof overhead. When the CdTe panels finally age out, there will be a ready market for the scrap, because Cd and Te are valuable. Building solar over pasture does not, in fact, substantially increase installation cost. But it does eliminate the need to buy land to use. Siting over cropland will be done more for the benefit of the crops, while providing revenue year-round. But in any case there is absolutely no shortage of suitable land for solar, even without co-siting. So, farmers can take up solar or not, at their option. Many will, probably most won't.