Solar energy could have changed the world long ago. The technology was discovered in the 19th century – but it took almost two centuries to become widely used. This is the history of solar energy: why it was ignored for so long – and what finally led to its global breakthrough.
Humanity has known how to convert sunlight into energy since the 19th century. But it’s only in the last 40 years that we’ve been generating solar power on a large scale. Were we asleep for the 180 years in between? The history of solar energy shows: innovation alone doesn’t change the world. Political decisions are also needed to implement innovations.
“I put my money on the sun and solar energy,” the inventor Thomas Edison is said to have told car manufacturer Henry Ford in 1931. He was convinced that the future belonged to solar energy.
“What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle this.”
In Edison’s lifetime, the technology behind solar panels and PV systems was already well understood. But they weren’t being built. Instead, oil refineries, gas plants, and coal power stations were constructed. That’s because fossil fuels were simply more profitable for companies. For decades, hardly any money was invested in further solar research, which meant that electricity from solar energy remained far more expensive than power from fossil sources.
Since the 1970s, the Price of Solar Power Has Dropped by 99 Percent
But something interesting happened in the mid-1970s: the price of solar electricity suddenly began to drop rapidly.
Since 1975, the cost of solar electricity has fallen by an incredible 99 percent. Suddenly, it became affordable for private individuals to install solar panels on their rooftops. In most countries, solar energy—alongside wind and hydropower—is now the cheapest form of energy generation. According to forecasts, this will soon be the case worldwide. But how did the price drop so fast? And why didn’t it happen much earlier? To understand that, we need to look at the history of solar energy—a history full of missed opportunities, but also of dedicated people who ultimately managed to stand up to the fossil fuel industry.
The History of Solar Energy: We Could Have Built Solar Panels Over 180 Years Ago
Solar energy was invented back in the 19th century. In 1839, French physicist Alexandre Edmond Becquerel was the first to describe the photovoltaic effect—the basic principle behind solar panels. So more than 180 years ago, we already knew how to convert light particles into energy. But it took more than a hundred years before the first solar panel was built.
It wasn’t until 1953 that a research team at Bell Labs—the R&D department of the American phone company AT&T—succeeded in creating a usable panel. Its efficiency was only 4–6% (today’s panels have around 20%), but this time the public recognized it as a revolutionary milestone. The New York Times wrote:
“Humanity may soon realize one of its greatest dreams: the use of the sun’s nearly endless energy for the benefit of society.”
The excitement was huge. But politics did nothing. Neither the U.S. nor European governments invested in the new technology. Private energy companies could have built solar systems on their own—but since the technology was still in its infancy, solar was far too expensive for them. So the big solar hype never materialized. Should Edison have invested his money elsewhere?
While the great inventor was ahead of his time, politics remained stuck in 19th-century thinking and aligned with the interests of the oil industry. It would have taken a strong state willing to make major investments in research and solar installations. But no state in the world invested significant amounts.
“Solar Socialism” – For Ronald Reagan, Solar Investments Were Leftist Nonsense
That changed for a while in the 1970s—specifically in 1973, during the first oil crisis. Within months, the price of oil jumped from three to twelve U.S. dollars per barrel. The U.S. was suddenly forced to look for alternative energy sources and invested some money in a solar research program. In the late 1970s, President Jimmy Carter even had solar panels installed on the roof of the White House. But his successor—the Republican Ronald Reagan—had them removed again. He also shut down the research program. To Reagan, investing in solar energy was a left-wing waste of money. He dismissively referred to it as “solar socialism.”
The Technology Might Still Be Underdeveloped Today, If Not for a Few Persistent Scientists
The technology behind solar electricity might still be underdeveloped today—and solar panels still unaffordable—if it weren’t for a few dedicated scientists who kept researching. One such group was in Australia, where a team led by Professor Martin Green continued working on the solar panel of the future.
At the same time, more and more people began to realize how important switching to renewable energy sources was to combat climate change. Many of them became politicians. The 1980s were the time when the green movement, in the form of environmentalist parties, entered parliaments. One person who was particularly enthusiastic about solar energy was German local councillor Hans-Josef Fell. He was convinced that electricity from solar energy could become much cheaper—if only more was invested in production.
To kickstart that process, he introduced the world’s first “solar premium” in his municipality of Hammelburg in Bavaria. This was essentially a subsidy for anyone who owned a solar panel. Suddenly, there was an incentive to buy solar panels. The subsidy was financed via energy bills from all electricity users—essentially a redistribution in favor of renewables.
In the 2000s, Solar Panel Production Took Off
In 1998, Germany’s Social Democrats formed the country’s first and (so far) only red-green coalition with the Greens. Fell saw this as a great opportunity. He drafted legislation that provided large subsidies for solar installations. And indeed: in 2000, the red-green government passed the Renewable Energy Act (EEG), which gave preferential treatment to renewable energy. This created an incentive for companies to invest in solar energy—which they did: over the next 15 years, the German energy sector invested around 200 billion euros in renewable sources.
Germany’s billions gave a massive boost to global solar module development. The world market grew thirtyfold, energy companies ramped up production, and millions of solar panels were built. Step by step, the price dropped—just as Hans-Josef Fell had imagined. It turns out that Thomas Edison was right after all.
China Is Now the Global Leader in Renewable Energy
As a result, China began producing a large number of solar panels. The Chinese leadership had also recognized the huge potential and included solar energy in its 2001 five-year plan. The result: massive state investments, subsidies, and research programs. A large share of the solar modules sold to Germany in the early 2000s came from Chinese manufacturers.
Experts agree that China played a historic role in further developing solar technology and expanding production facilities. Shi Zhengrong founded the solar company SunTech Power in 2001, which became the world’s largest solar panel producer by 2012. He also played a key role in growing the global solar market and helping drive down prices. Today, China is the undisputed world market leader in solar energy. Chinese solar panels now sell for under 100 euros. This is why more and more people in poorer countries—such as Pakistan—are switching to solar power.
Have Prices Fallen Too Fast?
That solar electricity is now so cheap sounds good at first—and for consumers, it is. But it also creates a problem, as economist Brett Christophers explains in his book The Price is Wrong. According to him, prices for solar (and wind) power have dropped “too fast.” That may sound odd. But he argues that because the prices are now so low, private energy companies no longer find it worthwhile to invest in renewables. In an interview with the German business magazine Surplus, he says:
“Most studies estimate that the average return on wind or solar projects is between 5 and 7 percent. In comparison: oil and gas companies only invest in new drilling projects if they’re sure the return will be at least twice as high. Upstream fossil energy is very profitable, with margins of 15 to over 20 percent. There’s no doubt that fossil fuels are much more profitable than renewable energy.”
His conclusion is clear: even today, we can’t rely on private energy companies and hope that the economy will shift to clean energy on its own. That’s why Christophers calls for state investment.
Political Decisions Matter More Than Invention
Looking at the history—and the present—of solar energy, one thing becomes clear: innovation is important, but political decisions are even more crucial. Without the decisions by countries like Germany and China to invest in solar energy in the early 2000s, we would have far fewer solar installations today. Likewise, we need public investment today to continue expanding solar energy. Relying on private companies alone has already cost humanity 180 years.
This article was inspired by: Rutger Bregman – Moral Ambition: How to Stop Wasting Your Talent and Build Something That Truly Matters.
The post “Why Solar Power Took 180 Years to Succeed” by Kontrast.at was published on 05/21/2025 by thebetter.news