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> This seems odd to me. Solar panels should last at least 30 years but we've been finding most just keep working, potentially for decades longer. What installa
by planteen 8y ago
> This seems odd to me. Solar panels should last at least 30 years but we've been finding most just keep working, potentially for decades longer.
What installations do we have data on that have been running since 1970 or so? You say they should last at least 30 years but may keep working decades longer.
> While the power they produce degrades with time, it's not enough to be worth junking the panel.
It's not surprising to me that they will fail, even before 30 years. I mean, they are outside, subjected to weather and thermal cycling. They are going to get hit by lightning, hail, and lots of freeze/thaw cycles. Almost everything degrades in that environment. Even the panel support structures themselves will get crooked on that time scale from soil moisture changes.
- blacksmith_tb 8y agoSoil moisture changes? Most panels are mounted on metal rails on roofs, presumably the structure isn't shifting so much that the roof's geometry is changing. Otherwise, yes, obviously exposure to the elements is hard on everything, though humans successfully maintain structures that are hundreds of years old.
- planteen 8y agoI was talking about solar farms. I've started to see a few of them scattered around Colorado. The structure looks like something dug with a fence post hole digger. Old fences definitely show their age around here (as in they are crooked) due to expansive soils. Or maybe its mostly due to freeze/thaw in the ground.
- caf 8y agoThe 1970s was when solar PV started to be used for RAPS (remote area power supplies), so there's a reasonable number of installations out there of that era. I wonder if any surveys of those have been done.