@“Cuprajake”#p4066Depends who you ask! Modern panels from reputable companies generally come with a minimum 25 year warranty so depends how you are defining obsolete. Old laptops in general continue to work - it’s our expectations and uses cases which makes them obsolete. So although panels from a reputable supplier should still be supported in a couple of decades from now - the industry is likley to have changed - the panels and invertors in 2040 and beyond will likely be cheaper and more efficient.
Energy Prices
sorry more how they degrade? do they loose the ability to charge as quick,
Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -
Cuprajake sorry more how they degrade? do they loose the ability to charge as quick,
- Lithium Batteries degrade because of, age & cycles
- Solar Cells degrade at approx 1% per year (from the best info I could fine, because of many different effects.
- Inverters degrade primarily due to the big electrolytic capacitors, and less so because of the siilicon. It’s almost a certainty that 10 years or so is replacement time.
The panels will over time reduce their ability to capture the solar - i think mine will drop to 80% efficient after X years.
I am on my second invertor in 12 years - that was 1k to replace - then a cable went on a panel - which took out the entire string - took minutes to fix but over 1k in scaffolding costs….
If it had not been for the excellent FIT tariffs I would not have bothered back then.
There is so much incorrect information regarding solar PV in the last several posts that I wouldn’t know where to start to correct it 😂
I am sure I have used the wrong terminology along the way 😂
Del_UK There is so much incorrect information regarding solar PV in the last several posts that I wouldn’t know where to start to correct it 😂
Please correct it…I only posted from quotes I’ve had and information about the equipment gleaned over 7 years plus my own circumstances. If I have things wrong, I’d like to know what I am missing. 2 or 3 Quotes of 21 to 23K for just under 4kW with batteries and inverter, when my annual leeccy bills are £1300, simply don’t make sense? Especially as that was for my Garage roof with no scaffolding requirements!
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Pompeyexile Since the introduction of solar specifically, I hear people talk about when installing any sort of heating system other than a gas boiler about payback etc and ‘ooh it costs so much you would never get your money back or it would take years’.
I think it depends on the alternative to your action. The alternative to no boiler is no hot water/heating, but If you have a boiler and get a more efficient one, then you might be more interested in ‘payback time’.
With solar PV the alternative is power from the grid, so people tend to look at payback time as the main factor (the others being environmental, psychological etc.).
DavecUK Please correct it…I only posted from quotes I’ve had and information about the equipment gleaned over 7 years plus my own circumstances.
I have had solar panels installed 4 months ago, so I can give you some real-life information rather than estimates. My system has 12 panels (capacity is 4.5kw) and I also have a 7.2kWh battery. The total cost was £9,825 (£5,245 for the PV and £3,977 for the battery - got it via Solar Together group buy scheme). Yesterday was a sunny day and solar yield was 22kWh. Today we hardly saw a ray of sun so the yield is only 3.4kWh. The total yield for March has been 278kWh (with a few days to go). The yield in February was 284kWh, January was 204kWh. We didn’t have the panels during the summer months, but obviously I expect it to produce considerably more. I have not yet had any payment for energy I export to the grid, but I have a pending request with a supplier that currently pays 6p per kw. Eventually I hope to move to Octopus, which currently has the best export tariff at 15p per kw.
Payback time is very hard to predict. We still don’t know how much we will save, and the numbers will change. We are currently on a fixed rate till October, then that will end. We don’t know what the prices will be in November, let alone in years to come. Appliances efficiency may change in the future. We might have an electric car. It’s hard to predict what will happen tomorrow, so how can we know what will be in a decade? If we save £80 per month, the system would be ‘free’ in ten years. If we only save £40 per month, it might be 20 years before ‘payback’.
Although payback is definitely important, and I doubt if I would install solar if I could see into the future and know that buying energy from the grid would be better economy, I still think there is more to it than just payback time. I like the idea of getting energy from the sun, which would otherwise just be wasted. It just makes sense and makes me feel better when the sun is out and I can bake bread/roast coffee/wash cloths/dishes with energy hitting my roof. I like the fact that it’s renewable and environmentally friendly. I like that fact that it reduces my reliance on the grid, so if there is war/crisis/greed/whatever and prices will stay high or become higher, I have this little shield and I’m buying less from the grid.
It’s not that I’m not hoping for a good ‘payback time’, but I look at it slightly differently than be all end all. On day 1, the system cost me X. Every month that I’m paying less for electricity, the cost of the system to me reduces. So even now, 4 months after I got it, it’s already a little cheaper for me to have it than it was initially. In a few years time it would be considerably less. Eventually, I do expect it to cost me nothing, and hopefully it will still be there on the roof and produce free electricity on nice sunny days. And if it doesn’t - then I’m sure it still won’t be my worst financial decision. Probably not even close.
Doram The total cost was £9,825 (£5,245 for the PV and £3,977 for the battery - got it via Solar Together group buy scheme).
Your cost was incredibly cheap for what you got…….
Doram That price is about what I’d estimate., and much more realistic than the £20k previously stated… The prices are at least half what they were 5 years ago
Warranty periods vary from manufacturers, but Solar Edge offer 12+ (sometimes 20) years on their inverters and 25 on optimisers. A replacement will be £400-1200 depending on model at current prices.
Panels usually out preform their spec sheet out of the box, my Perlight 295s have a measured max of about 309w. It therefore takes a few years before they degrade to their official wattage, and even then they won’t degrade that much. Manufactures usually guarantee 80% after 10 or 15 years, but it’s unlikely they will fall anywhere near that. A system I fitted for someone nearly 11 years ago was attacked by squirrels (add that to the list of downsides 😁). After repairing it, it was producing 3.9kw of power at its peak. It is a 4.1kw system on a 4kw Sunnyboy inverter. And, those panels have never been cleaned.
Another site I fitted last year, 5.8kw of panels but only a 3.68kw inverter, produced 790kwh in July last year, and has produced 330kwh so far this month. Winter reduces it, but to say you won’t get much at all is a bit of a leap.
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My system was actually a few hundred quid less than I said. The total price I quoted included some extra bits, such as the bird (and hopefully squirrel) protection net…
For anyone thinking I got inferior components, then no: QCELLS 375W Panels, Solis Hybrid inverter, Pylon Batteries. Panels have a 12-year product warranty and 25-year linear performance warranty, Inverter and batteries have at least 10 years warranty, but I think more (can’t remember for sure). Installation and service were first class.
Doram Some good kit there. I like the Solis stuff, and Qcells seem well built too. Not tried/fitted the Pylon stuff, but it’d be something I’d consider as it’s cheap and you can easily AC couple it and monitor with my existing Solaredge software, whereas a lot of the kit doesn’t play nice with Solaredge.
Doram I know there is a trend here to to try and find the most expensive way to do things, but I’m old school so prefer to get a good deal when possible. ;-)
I had 3 quotes for PV on the garage, none of them were less than 15K for 4kw and battery…ridiculous prices.
Doram I also had a couple of quotes for considerably more, but also another one very similar to the one I went for. As with everything, I guess you need to shop around.
Perhaps it’s just the area I live in…
Doram Maybe. I live in a deprived area of the UK - Cambridge… :)
Perhaps, you saw the link, and I assure you my prices from 3 companies have been so expensive it couldn’t possibly be worth it? (If I could get it at a sensible price, I would do it.
