Just so we have some numbers: $0.41 per watt utility-scale solar panel cost in 2020 ($0.17-$0.30 by 2030): https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/articles/2030-sola

Just so we have some numbers: $0.41 per watt utility-scale solar panel cost in 2020 ($0.17-$0.30 by 2030): https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/articles/2030-solar-cost-targets https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/articles/2030-solar-cost-t... Cost projections (note the 2019 upswing where market forces and installation costs exceeded solar panel cost): https://www.solar.com/learn/solar-panel-cost/ https://www.solar.com/learn/solar-panel-cost/ $480/kWh utility-scale battery cost (falling by 32% to $326/kwH by 2030): https://www.energy-storage.news/li-ion-bess-costs-could-fall-47-by-2030-nrel-says-in-long-term-forecast-update/ https://www.energy-storage.news/li-ion-bess-costs-could-fall... Solar energy will likely be stored in low-cost sodium ion residential and high-temperature sodium sulphur utility-scale batteries. This is probably a solved problem in the lab but will take 5-10 years to roll out at scale. To put this in perspective, Bonneville Power in the northwest supplies some of the cheapest electricity in the US due to its installed hydroelectric base. But it is no longer able to compete with renewables, as solar and wind prices have fallen below its $35/MWh wholesale price: https://www.bpa.gov/energy-and-services/rate-and-tariff-proceedings/power-rates https://www.bpa.gov/energy-and-services/rate-and-tariff-proc... http://www.bluefish.org/notobase.htm http://www.bluefish.org/notobase.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levelized_cost_of_electricity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levelized_cost_of_electricity Now the cost-benefit of dams is being examined due to their environmental impact on fish runs (like salmon) and the starvation of wildlife like killer whales near estuaries. Meaning that since solar is scalable, it has made nuclear the most expensive form of electricity today in terms of levelized cost. That doesn't mean that newer thorium and pebble bed reactors aren't worth exploring for high-power use cases, but that there's no way to build, fuel and decommission a nuclear reactor more cheaply than operating an existing dam which is already more expensive than solar. The smart investment today is in energy storage and AC/DC transformers. Photovoltaics are second to that because they are a saturated market, but there could be opportunities in thinner and disposable panels, especially for electric vehicles.