Solar
Electricity from photovoltaic panels and solar thermal plants.
At this rate, one death corresponds to about 2.5 million–15 million people's annual electricity.
Deaths per terawatt-hour
This scale is logarithmic: each step to the right is ten times the previous one, so the visual distance understates how much larger the fossil numbers really are.
counted deaths · modeled deaths
The small grey figure under each source is the same rate turned human: roughly how many people’s yearly electricity corresponds to one death. Coal, about 700–6,000 people; solar, a few million.
The figures as a table
| Source | Low | High | Modeled | 1 death per |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solar | 0.01 | 0.06 | 25% | 2.5M–15M people |
Deaths
0.01–0.06 deaths/TWh
Our World in Data, What are the safest and cleanest sources of energy?CO₂
18–180 gCO₂eq/kWh
IPCC AR5 WGIII Annex III lifecycle emissions mediansLand
5–40 km²/TWh/yr
UNECE lifecycle assessment of electricity generation optionsCost
29–92 USD/MWh
Lazard LCOE+ 2026, version 19.0The uncounted cost — priced at the central value of a statistical life ($14.1M), Solar's death toll is worth about $0.28 per MWh generated — against a market price of $46/MWh. That cost is on no electricity bill. Value of a life →
How it kills
Mainly through falls during rooftop installation and maintenance, plus accidents in panel manufacturing and transport. Like wind, there is no combustion and no pollution term.
What dominates the number
Occupational accidents — installation falls above all — dominate. Manufacturing risk is a smaller modeled share.
What the estimate does not capture
Site conditions, country-specific controls, labor practices, reliability, storage, and long-tail waste questions are outside this coefficient.