The world's solar power won't save ANY energy until 2020 Construction has required huge amounts of fossil fuel, report finds Predicts solar panels will not pay off their energy 'debt' until 2020 A new study has claimed the vast construction of solar farms around the globe has used so much fossil fuel they will not contribute any 'real' energy to the world until 2020. The Stanford University study analysed the fossil fuels used in the construction of solar panel. It found the panels have only just begun to surpass the amount of energy ploughed into created new solar installations. The Stanford University study analysed the fossil fuels used in the construction of solar panels - and found the panels have only just begun to surpass the amount of energy ploughed into created new solar installations. The energy used to produce solar panels is intense, the new report found. The initial step in producing the silicon at the heart of most panels is to melt silica rock at 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit using electricity, commonly from coal-fired power plants. There is also an energy cost in shipping and installing the panels. With continued technological advances, the industry is poised to pay off its debt of energy as early as 2015, and no later than 2020, the report concluded. 'This analysis shows that the industry is making positive strides,' said Michael Dale, who developed the method for assessing the industry's progress for the journal Environmental Science & Technology. Despite its fantastically fast growth rate, PV is producing - or just about to start producing - a net energy benefit to society. Supporters of solar power hope the industry will develop new, easier to produce panels. 'Developing new technologies with lower energy requirements will allow us to grow the industry at a faster rate,' said Sally Benson of Stanford's Global Climate & Energy Project. To be considered a success - or simply a positive energy technology - PV panels must ultimately pay back all the energy that went into them, said Dale. The PV industry ran an energy deficit from 2000 to now, consuming 75 percent more energy than it produced just five years ago. A solar park in Sanlucar La Mayor, near Seville, one of many constructed - but they have so far failed to 'pay off' the fossil fuels used to create them The energy payback time can also be reduced by installing PV panels in locations with high quality solar resources, like the desert Southwest in the United States and the Middle East, the team believe. They say many panels are simply installed in the wrong countries. 'At the moment, Germany makes up about 40 percent of the installed market, but sunshine in Germany isn't that great,' Dale said. So from a system perspective, it may be better to deploy PV systems where there is more sunshine.