So, the red squares represent the amount of surface area needed? That sounds ridiculous beyond belief. I would imagine that this is presuming the most ideal conditions at every moment. Obviously, battery storage would be required for all the times when the sun doesn’t shine. I can only imagine that batteries are going to skyrocket in price in the very near future. And, batteries have a limited useful life, just like solar panels, and they are not eco-friendly to dispose of, to say the least. The batteries would not only be needed at night, but whenever there was a spike in power demand. There are no viable alternatives to coal and gas to provide for spikes in demand. They are not anywhere close to being able to supply the base load with solar and wind; they will never be able to supply additional power when needed.