That's a good question that people use badly to sidetrack discussions about solar. The answer is that most research accessible online places the EROEI of PV solar at around 10. That places it in a firm "can be used" position, but too low for explosive growth, so any fast conversion into solar will need a large investment from some other energy source.

But notice that most research accessible online is old and solar is improving fast (while the fossil fuels can do nothing but get worse with usage).

There's a comprehensive comparison here that is interesting:

http://newmaeweb.ucsd.edu/courses/MAE119/WI_2018/ewExternalF...