In part because of lack of supply diversity.
Half of the windmills are frozen.
Any solar covered in snow (or just clouds).
Green works until it doesn't.
No reasonable amount of batteries are going to fix that.
Nuclear is the answer.
Pic related.
Wind and solar have their place.
And looking at energy input vs output, or land requirements, isn't correct.
They are basically time and space energy transfers. Arbitrages.
You make the solar panel once, in a place like an industrial central, and then it can be placed somewhere else (like a residential neighborhood) and produce power an a relatively constant rate for years.
>not enough power in solar to make it cost effective
Well that is wrong. Perhaps in a perfect world without sunk cost generation and if you could do it all again with a reset button.
As it is, my solar system paid for itself in 6 years.
But that is because I live in a high cost state with bullshit mal-investment in generation.
They are turning OFF nukes now, which is just dumb.
And not even clean natural gas generation is profitable anymore.