Life span for a solar panel by industry standard is 25 years, which translates to mean, the panel will produce rated power at the rated amount of sunlight, for 25 years without degradation.
For an off grid solar system to work, you need a battery bank, inverter, etc.. all the ash and trash that makes it a stand alone electrical system.. with proper care, battery bank should be good for 10 years, perhaps longer, don't buy cheap batteries and expect them to survive.. Bottom line with solar is.. only the sunlight is free.. you get to pay your total electric bill, for the next 25 years, in advance. Component prices have lowered a great deal as solar has advanced. However, be an informed buyer. Cheapest is not always the best investment.. just as the top end highest priced may not be also.. There is something to say for "good enough" to keep working with solar install. Finding that exact point is a balance of knowledge and budget. On Sun, Mar 23, 2014 at 3:17 PM, Curt Raymond <[email protected]> wrote: > I suspect, given the number of digests I've yet to digest I'm late to the > party but: > Doesn't the increase in house value give you incentive? I suspect its not > equal to what you'd pay for the panels but they're kind of like trees, you > plant trees for the next generation, not for yourself. > > Anyway the price of solar panels has plummeted in the last few years. 10 > years ago you'd pay $400 for a 100watt panel, today you'll pay about $150. > We're looking at putting some solar on the cabin in Maine. Mostly for one > light and the range hood. Maybe someday enough to run a small, efficient > fridge. The fear, of course, its that somebody will bring in a television... > > -Curt > > Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 12:32:41 -0400 > From: Dan Penoff <[email protected]> > To: Mercedes Discussion List <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [MBZ] People are generally holding on > Message-ID: <[email protected]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > Northwestern Indiana has a huge number of wind turbines, most of which are > just north of Lafayette and follow I-65 north to the Tri State area. > > I would love to have solar here, as it makes a lot of sense. The big > problem is the up front costs, and little is being done to help with that. > Not only that, but with a lengthy payback period, if I take out a second > mortgage to pay for it, for example, I lose all advantages if I sell the > house before everything is depreciated out. > > Dan > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > All posts are the result of individual contributors and as such, those > individuals are responsible for the content of the post. The list owner > has no control over the content of the messages of each contributor. > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com All posts are the result of individual contributors and as such, those individuals are responsible for the content of the post. The list owner has no control over the content of the messages of each contributor.
