On 6/11/2013 12:21 PM, John Colvin wrote:
On Tuesday, 11 June 2013 at 18:47:35 UTC, Walter Bright wrote:
On 6/11/2013 8:28 AM, Adam D. Ruppe wrote:
It is great stuff, solar power is almost free money if you can wait 20 years for
it.
Yeah, but you'll have to replace it before 20 years!
Source? There's not much that wears out in a photovoltaic AFAIK. The associated
electrical components may break however, especially on some of the more complex
setups.
Don't have a source, I read it long ago. Note that none of the advertisements,
brochures, etc., mention expected life of the PVs.
I do know that the life of any semiconductor is measured as the integral of the
heat it experiences. Heat causes the doping to migrate, and when it migrates far
enough the part fails.
PV panels can get pretty hot in direct sunlight.
Heating/cooling cycling will also cause cracking.
If you're considering a PV system, I'd ask serious questions about the useful
life of the system, and what maintenance is required (at a minimum, they'll need
the dirt and mold regularly cleaned off).
Circuit boards, inverters, etc., also fail, and you'd need some assurance you
can get replacement parts for 20 years.
