Solar power is going up like crazy. The US just had its highest-ever quarterly solar installation rate, up 191% over Q3 2015: https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/in-its-largest-...

Global installations for 2016 are also on track to set a new record, surpassing 2015 installations by 48%: https://cleantechnica.com/2016/11/30/global-solar-installati...

And despite these records, the manufacturing side of the industry is currently demand-constrained rather than supply-constrained.

When you say you there's just "limited installations here and there," are you estimating from whatever you personally see in your local area?

I have to echo the statement that PV is going up like crazy -- at least where I live. Admittedly I'm in one of the sunniest places in Japan (and at 34 degrees latitude to boot). They are clear cutting forest to put up installations everywhere. Virtually every single apartment building already has solar panels on top of them. Every house builder offers solar panels on new houses and while I've seen a couple of new houses without them, they are definitely the exception. Every electronics store sells solar panels and usually it is the thing that they are pushing hardest (weird to see huge solar panel displays next to the refigerators and TVs). I've done the math and with the price of electricity we pay here, it is a complete no brainer to get solar panels. If I lived in a house, I wouldn't even think twice.

Thats great to hear but Im not a fan of the idea of clear cutting forests in place of solar.

Energy payback time is a different concept than money payback time. Investors are interested in the latter, First one is a rudimentary requirement for long term feasibility without subsidies.

Also, global solar is going up like crazy. Global sustained growth rate of around 40% is crazy fast. If that keeps on for a bit more than ten years, 100% of current global electricity demand is covered by solar. Just for comparison, there exists no two subsequent full years of iPhone production where Apple would have managed to achieve 100% growth.

The main problem with solar is that it is not a full replacement for current power plants, since it does not produce power at all times. Until we have the capacity to store energy to use at night and on cloudy days, solar will be limited in potential.

I think his numbers didn't take into consideration the expensive backup power plant that you have to have ready even if you have adequate solar capacity.