TWENTY NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS - Fifty Percent of the nation's energy needs.

[Sea-Dog]

55. they do not need direct sun light to work and they do work in cloudy weather.

Last edited Tue May 29, 2012, 01:08 PM - Edit history (1)

furthermore

"sunniness doesn’t correspond exactly to the amount of solar energy you get out of a PV system. The best solar panels on the market today are only around 18% efficient under good conditions. At high temperatures for example, solar panels become less efficient. If the temperature of the solar panels increases by 20oC, they will only produce around 90% of the energy they would at room temperature. This means that on a clear but cold day in London, solar panels could produce more energy than a hot and sunny day in Spain.

Another factor is the difference between clear days and cloudy days. In the UK we get a lot of cloudy weather which blocks the sun and leads to ‘diffuse’ sunlight (meaning from all directions) rather than ‘direct’ sunlight. The four sunniest months of the year in the UK (May-August) deliver 5 times as much solar energy as the four winter months of the year (Nov-Feb). Solar panels can still turn diffuse light into electricity though, and there is evidence to suggest that some types of solar panels are better at collecting it than others. This means we may be able to improve the difference between London and Barcelona by using different technologies."

It isn't outside the realms of possibility to make ones that work better depending on the climate.

To summarise;
Technologies that can work by turning diffused sun light into electricity can overcome any shortcomings negating any need to transfer power. Needless to say the level of sun light that hits the UK is 50 times that it uses. A cloudy climate if there is ever one.